


Broken Mirrors ( WKM FF )

by Late_Night_Sleep671



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Who Killed Markiplier? (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Child Neglect, Coma, Crying, DA is a mom, Derek Dereksons' A+ parenting, District Attorney is a little shit once you get past all the trauma and angst, Dreams, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eric getting the love he needs, Eric had PTSD, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fighting, Fix-It, Flowers, Fluff, Forgiveness, Gore, Hallucinations, Haunting, Hes' an ass in this one, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, I PUTTING ANGST AGAIN BC THIS IS SAD, I make myself sad when making this, I'm here to fuck shit up!, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internal Conflict, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Kinda, M/M, Magic, Mental Breakdown, Minor Violence, Multi, Near Death Experiences, Passing Out, Physical Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Redemption, References to Depression, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Self-Insert, Suicidal Thoughts, This Is STUPID, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Verbal Abuse, Yelling, everyone has PTSD, everyone is sad, flash backs, fuck idk how to write, ghost - Freeform, i hurt all i love, im tap dancing on your hearts and souls, its nothing but angst and then more angst, lets cry???, no beta we die like men, so much crying, this will be up dating as this story goes on, what that sound? it the heart of my readers and my hearts shattering when reading this, working on oneself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2020-05-13 23:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 23
Words: 51,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19260907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Late_Night_Sleep671/pseuds/Late_Night_Sleep671
Summary: Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the most broken of them all?is it the mad man with the bubblegum stash that skips, hops and dashes?is it the man with no shadow and talks with an echo?is it the man whom shadows took hold of, who morns and wails?or...it is you, dear mirror? Broken and shattered, left in nothing but tattersThe person behind this broken mirror who whimpers and cries?Mirror mirror, oh broken mirror on the wall. Who's the most broken out of them all.you?orT̶̪̗̗̬̟̘͎̪͕̠̠̱͑͗͌̇̋̌̓̚̚̕̕͜Ḫ̵͔̭̿͐͋̆͛̈͆̈E̸̺̜̣̱̭̺͋̿̿͜͝M̴̨̱̪̳̉̒̉̍̿ͅ?̵̘̭̦̾̽̆͂͐̃͘͜





	1. Chapter 1: in the light of the moon

**Author's Note:**

> In the darkness you see the moon in a broken mirror, and in the moonlight. You see her, weeping in silence.

A manor, its walls taken over by nature and dust is lit by the light of the full moon. Inside the once white walls have yellowed with time, windows dirty and broken, dust coating every fixture in a thick layer of dust. The house empty and devoid of the life it once held, One thing truly stood out. A mirror large and extravagant, not a single bit of dust on it, the glass still bright and smug free. Was shattered, broken, and useless for its original function, it was what behind the object what was odd. It was not the yellowed walls or the wooden frames behind that, It was behind the shattered glass itself.

Behind the sharp, broken pieces of the mirror sat a young woman. She was average in every sense of the word. short, tanned skin, short black hair, silver wire glasses, clad in a white cotton button up shirt, the sleeves rolled up, black slacks, a silver pendant of a crescent moon on its side and simple black low-heeled loafers. Well... she WOULD be if not for the strange features she has. Tan skin having cracks like the mirror on her hands, forearms, neck, and face. The white top having a gunshot wound om the abdomen with a still ever vibrant red on the fabric like it only happened seconds ago, mouth rimmed with blood, and her eyes. Oh god, her eyes white with no color what so ever and cascading endlessly with tears. There she sat in the light of the moon where the mirror let it in like a window as it reflected the foyer, she looked with eyes crinkled with sorrow.

Oh, how she wished she was free. Alas, she had given, tricked was a more appropriate term, her physical form up for her dear friend after she was shot. She remembered the sharp pain of the bullet ripping through her tender flesh, her breaking skull, and neck from the fall. The face full of regret and tears that looked at her form as she fell, her opening up her eyes to see nothing but black then red and blue. Then she opened them again to see the man that shot her jump up to try to explain himself before he lost his mind. The utter HURT and RAGE of being pushed out her own body and seeing the form it took was that of her friend. 

Oh, she remembered how she ran to her only, albeit broken, window to the outside world. The scream of her beloved friend's name left her mouth as she banged her fists on the glass and looked him in the eye, and how he looked back with sadness before rage took over and he stormed out without a thought. The years she kept on screaming and hitting the glass until she could no longer. And then she was left with the whispers of the dammed souls used by the manor for even longer than when she was making a racket. The rage deep inside her talking root like a weed and how it infected her, then died as the sands of time passed. Where the weeds of rage left an empty space, a patch of purple hyacinth(1) grew. 

She knew she had every RIGHT to be mad, to thirst for blood and revenge, to have them begging on their knees. But she also knew that rage and revenge can only last so long, warp the truth and leave you empty in the aftermath. So as the sun and moon passed, seeing the white wall's age and yellow, the windows break with time. She laid in wait, learned to let go and saw the truth of what happened that night. 

That night, that horrid night that haunts her to this very day, she learned that no one was truly at fault. That everyone was bent and twisted to fit into the houses plans. So, she now sits still, eyes now closed. In the light of the moon with a clear heart and mind, and nothing but sorrow and forgiveness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Hyacinth (Purple): ' I am Sorry, Please Forgive Me, Sorrow '


	2. Chapter 2: Bubblegum Pink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look in the mind of a mad man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a man sits alone, and thinks about a certain memory

The mind of Wilford Warfstache was many things, but organized and sane? Not even on the list. With his mind always shifting, showing and forgetting things its no surprise when he remembers or forgot the most random things. Most of them are easily forgotten things, the name of a person he's killed or the color of the tie he last wore. But, somedays he sees, hears and remembers thing that.. strike a match deep inside of him. On these days, he is quiet and easily angered and never responds to his name or at all, he looks lost and grief-stricken.

On these days he sees faces and hears names he knows, but at the same time doesn't. He remembers a large manor, a cane, and people. He can never quite remember their faces or names, but one face he sees as clear as day. Round, tan skin, black hair, and wide dark brown eyes, hair fanning out in slow motion. Wilford never tells of this face, this clear face that looks at him and strikes a deep pain. He tells not even Dark, whom he confides in him when those days come and leave him nothing but a form on the ground shaking and crying.

Wilford says not a pep of this person, he holds them close to his chest and heart on lonely nights. The face of that person looking in shock and hurt, yes. But, it was familiar and that's all that mattered! Because some nights he sees the face again but its different those times. It's flushed pink like bubblegum, eyes crinkled with happiness and mouth pulled in the biggest smile and looks like their laughing WITH him. Sometimes he hears their voice, nothing he can truly remember when he wakes, calling out to him with a name or was it a tittle? Saying words he can't hear, he also feels their touch soft but full of strength and happiness. Wilford doesn't understand why when he sees their face like that, he's not sent into a whirlwind of horrid emotions. His chest is tight and heavy with emotions he can't name, but he still takes great joy when he sees them. Wilford Warfstache doesn't understand but then again, when does he ever?

He doesn't understand why he can't find his friends, why some days when he goes wandering in the headquarters everything goes RED, why when it goes a bright red he feels himself in a lovers embrace. Why he sees BLUE, he feels the hug of a friend. He doesn't understand why he has blanks in his memories, why people don't get back up when he shots them. It was all a JOKE! IT WAS FUNNY, WHY IS EVERYONE SCREAMING?!?! IT WAS A JOKE RIGHT?? 

 

Ẇ̵͖͈̙́̈́̓̂̓̂͘͝Ḩ̵̨̥͈̪̠̘̠̞͚̣͎̪̭̙͛̑Ý̶̮̤͈̯͓́̐͑̂̒̆̕̚͘͘I̵͖̭͓̝̥̳͈̪̾̀̔̅̏̂̌͒̚S̷̼̠͙̱̯͚͛̒͠T̶̢͓̑͌̍̓̿H̴̨͎͕̜͙͕̗̥̲͒̓̀̉͆̈́̃͂͆͘̚Ĭ̷̌͠ͅͅS̶͈̣̞̗͍̰͎̙͙̔H̶͎͚͔̘̜̮̰͑̌̄̔͂͘͝A̷̬͉̅̀͗͐͑P̶͖͎̩͈͇̱̩͙̆̍̒̒̓͊̎̐͑̕͜P̴̩̦̹̅͆̾͐̊̄Ę̵͎̠̻̭̯̻̹̘̣̐͒̽͜N̴̛͉̮̮̺̽̿͊͑̑̉̓̊̍̆̐̉͛İ̵̛̳̣G̴̨̩̺̺̭͑͗̈́̍̅̓͘ͅN̴̛̟͇̝͑͊̔̿̀̅̎̐̐͛W̸̞̼̤͚͙͈̞̬͙̥̉̔͊̆̽̊͊̇̊͘͘̚͜͝H̷̢̜̻̱̫͇̦̠̹̻̞͈́̚A̵̛̗͉̖̫̩̣̹͔̫̮̠̯͛͌̈́̓̿͌̾͛̎̊̎͆̎̽Ţ̴̨̯̫͕̯͕̯̞̩̻͈̿̀̇̎͜Í̷̯̱̲̳͉̥̹͋̋́̚S̶̡̬̭̞̻̤̣͈̙̠̘̈́̽͐̓̊͘G̷̨̡͎̮̤͍̯̪͑̂̆̎̉̀̽͝Ŏ̸̰̠̝̩̩̊̚Ȉ̶̡̮̘̽̓̓̔̅̿̍͆͠ͅŃ̸̲̄̏̽̅͋̾̓͑͗G̸̡̝̟̜̳͇̱̜͓͔̿́͑̍̒̒͗̈̔̒ͅO̴̟̤͕̞̬̣͊͋̾̄̀̄͗͑̿͘̚N̴̨̨̖̮̲͉̓̊̌É̴̜̂́̃̎I̸̻̟̣̰̪̟͓͒͂͐̌̓̈́̓̌͗̈́̍͝D̶͖͈̫̘̥̬̘̝̬̰̥̦͋I̶̡͈͉̹̠͎͙̼̩͊͛̓͒̇̾͑D̸̛̝̻̽̔͛̈́̎̆̽̂̀́͆̒͝N̵̻̣̜̻̩̯̼͍̋͑̋̽̽̈̊̆̋̄̈́̓̒̏͜͜ͅT̵͉̜̼̱̰͙̙̪̃̾͂K̷̞̘̹͍̤̞͍̘̱͓̝̫̻̻̎̈́̑̈́̈́͂̈́I̶̧̨̩̘̝̟͆̂̽L̷̨̧̢̛͍̣͈̬̦̣̼̜͇̩̟̓̋̈̓̒̈́̔͛͜͝L̶͔̣͈̭̓̽̊̽͋̌̐̋̆͂͋͋͂̿͝A̵̜͔̲͈͍̞͓͉͖̯̫̠̯̒̍̓̅̏̾̉͂͛̐͗̀͜N̸̻͔̟̹̬̭̙̓͋̈́͑́͋͛̌̌͜͜͝Ý̶͎͔̳̯̮͎̥̤̻͔̰͕̩̻͑́͑̄͝ͅÖ̵̟̻̫̲̭̞́͒̔N̶̡̢̢̧̛̺͓̠̣̬̞͕̰̣̎̑̐̂̀̈́̋̔͒͆̑́̕̚͜Ḛ̶̛͇̣͓͉͈̫̔̐̉̉̂̀̀̂̔͆I̶̧͚̣͇̱͉̗̜̯͖̤̤͆͗̒͂̃̆͑̇́̀̊́͝ͅṰ̶͗͒̆̓͠W̵̡̢̹͚̬̫̯̼̰̞̩̺̏̏̇̚Ą̷͎̙͆̔́̓͛͂́S̸̲̗͈̯̖̯̓Ǻ̵̡͓̱̤̜͖̅̓͂̌̇̾̑̃̋̓̾͝͝L̸̨̜̯͖̈́̍L̷̝͓̏̀͆̾̌́̄͌͝Ȃ̴̢̱̼͖̩̓̈̋̓̀̕͝͠ͅJ̷̢̨̢̗̙͎͈̪̻̮͕̭̒͗̒͐̒̄̈̉͆̓̚͝͝O̵͈͎̘͓͓̞̠̰̥͈͖̙̐̑̀̏̈́̃͌̔̑͒̚͘̕͝͠C̴̨̠͕̈́̒͛͑͑̈́̌K̷̨̡̹̞̤̹̩͇͍̜̓̾̏͂D̸͙͚̩̤̺̼̰̺̠̼͓̦͊̈́͒͂̀̋Ã̷̢̰̙̦̳̪̮͍̘̄̌M̶̢̨̞̙͕̳͐̌̔̍͊̋̊̽I̷̠͔̞̘̺̣̺̍́̔̇̊͛̈̌͑͊̚Ē̵̤̲̮̦̮̱̗̓̒Ņ̸̙̥̜̞͕̳̫̩̻̭͙̗̹͍̀̊̿͒͠!̴̟̭̫̭̻̬̗͍̳̓̓͒́̈́͆C̵̨̲̰̣̮̠̮̮̜̠̗̹̍̆̔̓̌̾͘͜ͅḘ̴̢̢̙̘̙̝͖͉̣̙͔̗͒̀̐̂̏̉͐͠L̷̰̻̟̬̄͑̐ͅĮ̶̧̧͖̺̜̩̹̰̟̟͍̣̍͌̋̐̽͛̕̚͝E̸̡̢̡͕̟̞̩̞̱͔̼̺̹̺̿ͅN̴̖͙͕̝͚̭͓͉̳͍̩͒̀̔̔͛̚͜ͅ!̷̙̥͖̻͙̙̣͍́͗̽̾͑͂̄̋̆̕͘͝Y̵̢͉͍̩͉̻̼̺̞̼͈͒̅̈́̾̂̈͐̎̇̂̀̏̃̏̕Ṍ̸̤̱̥͓͕̥̰̻̔̾́̋͝U̶̝̬̫̾̾̾̅̏͘Ç̸̧̝͇͎̺͕͈̬̭̗̦̋̏̄̋͐̂̔̿̇̍̀̏̃̔͜͝ͅA̵̺̲̳̝̋̈̏͌̓́͠N̷͇͑̐͗̋́̈̽͆̃̉̕͠c̵̛͓̪̦̈́̈́̎̍͌̀̈́̃͒̚͝ͅǪ̷̧̢̲̱̥̻̦̘͆̓͠M̷̢̲̠͙̦͒̅͒̏͒̿͆͑̌̿̌̐̕ͅE̴̡̠͎̲̩̺͇̼̩̥̳͆͆͗͆̔̎̌P̶̧̜̞͓͙̻͙͍̬̗̙̀̽̈́̊͋͆͘͠Ụ̶̣͍͎̟̖͍̯̒̍͌͋̄̍͆̀̕͜ͅṮ̷̼̣̒̏͂̾̍̓̔́̆̀̚͝K̴̢̯̟̯̥̐̀͗̂̃͊̄̑̽͌̊̋Ṉ̸̢̦͓͉̯̈́͊͜Ỏ̸̱͖̈̈́̍̽́̽̃̃̇̈́́̚͠͝Ẃ̵̛̠̙̺̮͉͍̳̞̜̿͗̔̿̍̏̈́̋̊̿͜͜ͅỈ̶̧̩̼̖̤̙̼̹͙͆̓͑͗͐ͅT̸͚̫̬͈̮̔̐̈́̿̒̈̽͌̋͗̌͘ͅŞ̷̢̧͕̘̭̗̱̈̏͗̌̌̿͐͆̀ͅN̷̺̱̔̈́̿Ơ̶̩͙̱̲̹͎̔͆̈́͗̽̈́͌̐̚̕̚T̵̰͕͕̗̘̻̺̠̉͗͑͆̃̊̈́̒ͅF̶̨̡̣̭̳͓͎͙̀̆̽͝ͅÙ̵̮͇͙̜̋̈̇̌̐͐̀̏͠͝͝N̴̢̛̟̲̬͔͉̜̣̭̠͉̋̈̇́̃̋̈͌̄̕͜͝N̵̡̧̛̖͉̮̳̯͓͕̣̮͎̓̓̈͑̇͒̌̈́̾̽͘̚͠ͅY̴̛̰̎͆͌̈́͆͂̔̂͊̾Ą̶̪̳̫̖͔̟͕̝́͆͛̒Ṇ̵̤̟̈́̉̀̆̒̾̉͑̏͛̾͘̕͝͝Ÿ̴̨͎́̈̓͂́̿̕M̸̭͔̦̜͕̗͉̘͓̬̦̥̽̈̅̇͋̚͜Ọ̸̖̞̩̒̀R̸̨̛̙̞͙͉͙͍̜̞̦̰̹͖͇̲͋̊̀͂̿E̸̢͖̗̯̺̞͚̖͎͑͌̀Ǐ̵͉͖̫͚́̈́̿́͂̄̅͗͜͠͝ͅD̷̨̡̡͎̻̠̰̪̙̹̪͍̾̐̽̆͜ͅI̵̧͚͈̝̤̱̪̟͈͍̭̻̰͚͂̉̈́̀̕͜D̵͙̺̯̙͔̫̬̆̉̐͊̀̊̈̚͠N̴̡̙̖͚̬̹̖̽̓̄̓̃͌́͊̓̌ͅT̸̨͓͉̟͙̘̆̃̾͊̉̿͌͆͝K̴̥̫̣̐̋͊͐̋̿͆͗͘͘͝I̴̡̨̺̠̰̦͖̬̲̘̯̒͂̑̏͝Ļ̷̧̨͕͔͙͙͐̽̄̀̈͜͝͝L̵̢͖̩̭̪̑̉͝A̵̡̡͍͈̟̫̥͔͉̋̄̀͂̔̓̉͛͑̑̎͆̕N̸̩͙̤͈̎̔̀̕͝Ỳ̸̨̮̳͇͎͔͎͙̃͗̑̐̿̐̓̀͐̎͝͝ͅŎ̶͎̰̤͖̥̩͈̈́̃N̸̛̞̠̼̰͉̬̳̻̰͙͚̎̾͆̃̈́͐̀̀͑Ẽ̸̛̮͓̞̰̟̭̫͎̖̇̎̐̏̽̇̀̓͊͛͠Ä̸̮͓̤́̌͊͗̉͋͗̿͆̐̏͆̐͝͝H̴̨̟͍̲̳̮͙̓͊̐̆͊̍͐̈́̂̽̀̒̒̒̃͜Ḁ̴̲̥̣͚̫̺̱͑̈̐̅̊̇͋̐̈̿͗͝͝͝ͅͅH̸͚̟̠̰͖̺̮͔̳́Á̷̢̢͔̣̯̳͉̘̘͎̯̻̲͜Ĥ̸̨̡̫̩̻̖̲͖̲̝͂̔A̶̡̞̫̜͓̓̅̀̀̃͝H̸̼͖̝̪̍͒̏̏̈́̄̈̑̏̂̀̄̃͝͝A̷̡̢̝̮̹͇̪͕͇͈̲̻̳͊H̷̢̡̛̺̦̝̳̮͇̗͎͈̪̰̗̮́̆̒̓̀̂̏̊͒̀̚Ã̷̮̯̲̗͙̹̘̭͈̿̌̎̑̈̕͜͝Ȟ̴̢̨̡̙̪̫̥̝̻̬̭̒̒͘͜ͅẢ̷̧̡̯͍̖͖̲̗̰̝͔͚̩̰̎̓̀̈́̄̽̀H̸̞́̔̄Á̶͇͍̻̮̟̖̹̓̔̐̿ͅͅH̸̡̡̢͉̬̤̞͖̺̩̭̤͊̋̆̏̿̀̑͑̅̋͝͠͝ͅͅĄ̸̛̥̻̞̹͔̼͖͉̞̪̝̤͑̒̀̅̒̿͛̾̏̌̉̔̄̚H̵̡̞̼̱͉̫̰̟̺̃̀̎͘ͅ

 

 

...What was he doing again?

The man with a bubblegum pink mustache stands as he leaves the confines of his studio to pitch the idea of ' Markiplier TV ' again. An echo in his mind being smothered by his thoughts.

 

C̸̡͓̳̳̞̼͓̻̪̘̖̲̋̋̋̌̎̕͘͠ő̶̞̳͕̪̹͔͔͕̖͌̌̀̈͂l̸̨̧͈̜͎̘̖̤̮̱̪͇̟̐̆̑̓͊̍͌͂͑́̀ǫ̷͉̥̝̠̣͋͗͒̽͊̃̀̿̀̈́̕͠n̷̪̯͆͋̕e̴͚͎̘͚̻̲̎͐̽̉̀͗͋͘͠͝ḻ̵̹̫̖̱͕̯̥̹̜̥̍̐͂̽̇͝,̶̗̥͙͈̮͕̍̀̽̉̆̎̊͐̐ ̷̯̪̞̘̻̺̪̮͙̬͓͖͌̀̉̆̓̒̄̎͗͝į̶̧̳̗͈̜̖̠̳̲̱̉̃̂̄͗̇̋͊̾̀̏ͅť̸̛̳̱̳̫̳̒̎̔̍̄͘̚̕͝͝͝͠ ̶̲̮̗̪̂̽̓ţ̶͖̮͛͆͐͋͗̋̀̀̿̆̆͒̓̑͠ͅh̴̭͙̙̘̦̪̪̎̂ă̶̞̗͖̯͇͚̺̈́̄̒̓̌̂̀͆͝ͅͅͅṱ̸̡̨͖́̃͊̍̈́̄ ̵̛̩̾͂͌̏̇͒̏̔̔̈͘͠y̸̢̛̺̞͈̳̌͋̏͗̅͌͋́̈́̚͜ǫ̵̰̮͇̦̞̰͍̟̖̽̆̓͆͊̈́̈́̊̒̌͜͝͠͠ͅu̸͚̳̕ͅ?̷̜͙̘͚̯͍̝̼͍̳͉̟͛̋̄̅̉̂̿̒̋̈́͗̿͜͝

C

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3: Birds of a feather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Orange light and a new mirror

The rays of the morning sun lit the dark void I called my... home, the warm golden light of the new day shined on my face as I looked out the mirror. This was my normal now. It has been years since that day and I look the same, in the thought I haven't aged, or I would think its been years.

As I looked out my ' window ' and listened to the birds and wind rustling the trees, I couldn't help but think of my...friends. Yes, my friends' I guess even after all they've done to me I still love them with all my heart. I think of Mark, the Colonel, and my dear Damien. Oh, how I miss them and how I hope they are happy. The mere thought of them makes my tears increase as I fall to my knees and curl into myself. It took some time, a lot of time to be completely honest, to let go of the hate and truly understand what had happened to them. I remember looking out of the mirror that night I learned to forgive them completely ~~( though I'm not even sure of that )~~ , looking at the moon in the night sky as I clutched my hands on the necklace Damien and Mark had gotten for me. Asking to the moon and stairs for forgiveness for the hate that consumed me, pleading and asking to protect them, my friends, and let them move on.

I-I don't even know if they still live to this day, and as much as I wish I was free, how much I wish and long to see them. I don't even know if they remember me, and so I lay there in the light of morning curled into my own self-pity. I suddenly felt a nudge, a call for help, it was soft and faded but it was a call nonetheless. I sit up and look in the nothingness around me before I feel it again, this time much more strong and desperate. I, of course, followed it like the fool I am looking for whoever was calling out for help- for ME.

So here I am, running in the inky void running about and around trying to find the person that I had felt. The deeper I ran, the stronger I could feel them- feel him, and I then could see a thread like light. It was an orange-yellow light, bright and soft. I followed it before I was blinded with white and I was in another mirror, this one much larger and not shattered. It was then I saw them-saw him, curled up on a bathroom floor whimpering and shaking.

The sight made my heart shatter, he looked young and were rocking back and forth while clutching a yellow handkerchief. I let myself look at him for a few more minutes, hearing the sniffles and hiccups putting more creaks on my skin from my distress before I knock on the glass. He looked up and I feel the blood in my veins grow cold. That face... before I could freak out anymore he looked at me and yelped before cowering away from me. No... this was not Damien, he may share the face with him but he was not Damien. I knock on the glass once more this time very lightly as to not spook him, I play with my hands as I look at him when he looks back up. I raise my hand and wave slowly as not to scare him, as I know my appearance has. It takes time for him to stop crying and not flinch when I move before he moves closer to the mirror.

" H-Hello... " He said softly as he looked into my white eyes, I smile and nod to him as a greeting. " Wh-Who Who are you? " he asked me I smile and go to open my mouth to speak, eager and happy to talk to another person.

" H̷̡̼̪̥̝̺̥̤̣̾̑̾̿̇̊͘ȩ̴̡̲͎̻̈́̍͆͆̈́͝l̸̺̠̺̠̳͓̟̔͂̈́͌̈́̃͘͝͝͝͝͝l̴̘̞͙͔͂̋̽̀̆ỏ̸̧̺̠̳̦͉̗̖̻̺̙͍͎̹͈͋̃ ̷̩̬͕̪̞̺̠͈̉̀̈́̅̅̿I̴͖̻̯͓͖̰̬̱̺͔̜̫͍̓̾̑͆͋͊͆̇̽̀͆͠'̸̜͎̩͔̫͓̗̭͙̪̒̒͌͌̎̐̾̈́́̆̕m̵̡̛̜̣̘̝̻͔̩̠̻͉̳̼̀̈́̋͒̀̓̿͝-̴̛̣̤̳̟̘̱͐̏̔́̏̃̆͆͗̕͜ " its sharp like breaking glass and it HURTS, it hurts to talk and I can just feel my tears increasing with how much pain it's causing me. I see the young man flinch back at e mere sound of my broken voice.

My hands reaching for my neck, where a creak lay on it(1), the very thing keeping me from replying to him. His eyes dart to my neck, widening when he saw the crack before he looked at me with a look. " I-I'm so sorry! " he said as he began to tear up, I wave my hands quickly as to make him stop. I smile, despite my ever flowing tears, at him before I place my right hand on my side of the glass, I focus hard to think of what I want to ' say ' before it appears on the mirror for him to read.

< It’s fine! You didn’t know, so no harm no foul! > it reads as I give him a big smile and thumbs up, " oh thank go-goodness " he mumbled before I replaced the words with new ones. < My name is Evelyn, may I know yours? > he reads before he replays " M-My na-name is Eric Derekson " I nod my head with a smile. < Are you alright? I saw you crying > I said, with a worried look. I see his whole mood take a plummet when I say that, " O-oh it's not-nothing impo-important.. " he says quietly < Eric, please tell me, I know I don't know you and you don't have to tell me ANYTHING but. ' Nothing ' makes someone react so strongly > I say.

He looks at me more what feels like forever before he says " It's my d-dad, he-he's been pressuring me to-to do business with him-" Eric uses his yellow handkerchief to wipe his head as I see more sweat. " Bu-But whatever I-I do its... it's just not ENOUGH for him! " He spits out. Eric's weeping bent over the counter and slowly sinking to his knees. I could not give him much comfort. So I did the only thing I could, leaned in my part of the mirror and hummed(2). I may not be able to talk but I was able to make some type of noise now, instead of nothing.

The bathroom was nothing but his sobs and my humming before he stopped and looked up at me. " I-I went to bis- business school for hi-him... I di-didn't even want to- " Eric says as he wipes his face as he sits on the counter. I place my hands on the glass, facing him this time and looking at him. I look at him with something-something I would look at Damien at when he got too into his head. Like during the election, Damien thinking he wouldn't get picked and running himself thin. Like university and him over studying, in both time I had to drag him out. Sit him down, and looked him in the eyes and just talked. Took his mind off of the issue but still reassuring him than, it's _OKAY_. That no matter what, it's okay.

< It's **NOT** your fault > he read with tear-filled eyes, < and it will never  **BE** your fault... I promise you > We both look at each other, our tears matching in pace as they fall. " B-but he all ways says th-that it-it's my fault.. that I'm just a useless child " he whispers, < Then he is a fool Eric, he is a **FOOL** > I say. I can't say how long we stayed there, curled up on the bathroom counter top just crying in silence. I steaming that a parent, a FATHER, would say something like that to their own child. But I keep my thoughts to myself as I know this wound cuts him deeply, that it's not going to be fixed with talking to a person he just met in a MIRROR. But, it something and that's good. He shook a little less, he doesn't look like he holding the world on his shoulders.

< I think you should go- I should go as well > I say to him, he looks lost before I add < We've been in here quite a long time, and I'll only be a thought away. > I give him the biggest smile I can, as well as some what explain how i got here. I then add on trying to stop his worrying < Just think of me, and I'll be here. Okay? > he's looking at me, biting his lip before he puts a hand against mine. " Promise? " he asked, < of course, to the moon and back >.

Then I'm back in the familiar darkness of the manor, I turn to look and see the shattered image of the night sky. I sit in the light of a crescent moon and sigh. I... I missed talking, if you could call it that, I missed the company. And I missed PEOPLE, funny coming from the introvert lone wolf, but I guess being isolated and away from people- from your _FRIENDS_ does that. ' Eric's a nice kid and- ' I bite my lip and lift my brows as I look at my hands before looking back at the moon ' I have questions '.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you fro reading!  
> (1) I may have said somewhat of why this happened but I'm not going to fully explain, YET.  
> (2) I hum this song a lot, tho it doesn't have any lyrics. Its Inuyasha's lullaby  
> I also had to change the font because you couldn't read it on mobile and i also forgot some of them??? haha, sorry if you liked the font


	4. Chapter 4: Bad Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a night of rest for one man opens a wound still fresh and tender

_' It's delightful to meet you, Damien '_

_' Damien, you're going to be just fine '_

_' Calm down Dams, I believe in you! '_

_' Come on Damien! '_

_' Of course, I'll be your District Attorney Damien '_

_' Mayor Damien?... has a nice ring to it, right? '_

_' Dams '_

_' D! '_

_' Damien? '_

_' DAMIEN, PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! '_

A man with gray skin jolts up from his rest in a cold sweat in a sullen office room. His gasps for air felt like sandpaper, the area around darkening and began cracking with the blue and red afterimages appearing around him. His eyes darting around the room, searching around wildly.

' The same bad dream... again ' the man thought as he calmed down, the effects of his emotional strife stopping. The dream- no a memory of happier times haunts this being- this monstrosity, this man called Dark, like a sickness. It lies in wait to sinks its claws into his mind and makes him see things- someone he craves he didn't.

Not out of fear or hate- how could he hate them- hate her? Hate Evelyn, when she did nothing wrong? It was out of guilt and self-hatred, of what he did to her, of leaving her there. ALONE. He could hear the voices in his mind, one voice screaming in BLUE, telling him to find her. To see her. To HOLD her.

He did see her, in his dreams. He saw her smiling and lit like moonlight, bright but cool and soothing. Listened to her supportive words and felt her gentle touches. Saw brown eyes full of love, care, and happiness. Her chimes of laughter echoing in his mind on repeat like a loved record, the gentle shoves that held no ill intent. Felt the laughter when she told a foolish pun or snarky remark, the calm acceptance of his choices.

He...

He saw her...

He saw her in the mirror, hammering on broken glass. Crying out his name, saw the pain in her eyes, felt the stabbing looks of betrayal and her soul-shattering shrieks.

It's eerie, to remember the last time he saw her, she was crying out. Pleading and crying to not be left alone- to be 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍. But he did it for a reason, so she wouldn't get her hands tainted, so she wouldn't get 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭. So she wouldn't see what he had become. See that he's turned into a 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑, a beast curled so strongly on revenge that he doesn't 𝑪𝑨𝑹𝑬 who gets caught in the crossfires. That he wasn't HIM anymore- that he wasn't the Damien she so admired and cherished.

_~~Why can't he stop shacking?~~ _

Dark could see her now, walking and chatting to him. See her figure immersed in a soft purple light as she walked around his office, pointing and talking. He saw her turn and looked at him and smiled before he blinked and she changed. Tears in her dark brown eyes, mouth pulled into a frown. Then, she fragmented into pieces. Dark eyes looked where he saw her before beginning to mourn and trembling with grief. A man showed in wickedness known for his heartlessness and cruelty. Was hunched over his desk with voices in his head screeching. He heard her again, her voice calling out to him.

_' Breath with me Damien, okay? can you do that? '_

_' In and out, in and out- Don't think about anything else '_

_' I promise, I'm not going anywhere. '_

_' I'll always be here with you... '_

He took another shaky breath, sat up and cracked his neck. Even now her thought keeps him in one piece whether she knows it or not. Ridiculous, right?

He sentenced her to that shattered mirror, to loneliness, to betrayal, to 𝙃𝘼𝙏𝙀 and she's still saving him, even if it's been a 100 years since he's last seen her. ' You'll always be there for me, huh? ' Dark thought about the vow she made as he looked at his hands, gray and stained with sin- so unlike hers. He closed his hands before he took another breath and looked at the clock then stood, the planes he had would not work themselves. He could not trust any of the other egos to actually to be... effective. As he made his way out of office he looked at one thing on his desk, a frame, and walked out. Cold and apathetic to everything around him with anger and guilt oozing in him like an ailment. ' These bad dreams are more than true... ' is the thought he has as he disappears.

The frame had been a gift from Evelyn, one of two. The cane Damien had was the second. It was a simple glass with silver edges, inside though held a picture. Of a time when he was young, it was university and only had been Mark, Damien, and Evelyn at the time. She had managed to get her hands on a camera and made them stand to take a picture, all three of them were smiling with the sun shining to make a golden halo around them. There were three different photos taken that day, one for each of them. " To remember each other!- " She said as she handed Damien and Mark their photos," and to remember me! When you're both big shots and I'm still little oh me " of course Damien and Mark dismissed of that talk, saying she'd be just as big and influential as them. Evelyn laughed and looked at them with tender eyes, " I know- I know, it's just... I have this feeling you guys are going to do great things! " she said to them before jabbing fun at them for worrying about her.

Even now, as Dark shadows the hall, he can hear the voice in his head calling out for her. To console him, but he pushes through that. He'd make his wrong right by getting revenge for **EVERYONE** Mark had ever hurt- for Dark hurting _HER_. So he walks with no shadow and bad dreams tormenting him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! please give feedback if you can. Hope you all enjoy my interpretation of Dark, and see that the past hurts him more than he lets on.


	5. Chapter 5: Watery smiles and Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Promises are things that are meant to be kept

I could feel my throat closing in on itself, my eyes felt like they were on fire because of the tears and how hard I was squeezing them shut. My mouth was gasping for oxygen but it felt like a desert- dry and barren. It echoed in my room, bouncing off my walls and drilling itself into my ears and head.

I could feel my entire body shaking, the tips of my fingers sinking into the flesh of my arms as claw myself. Trying to drown out the world around me- trying to ground myself in the pain. It was too much- everything was t-to much. The bed was too hot but I was cold from my own sweat and I can't see- the walls were closing in. My chest hurt so 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵. It was like someone was taking a hammer and beating the center of my chest with it. My body felt like pins and needles and I could only hear my own heartbeat, the rushing sound of blood and my tattered breathing.

It hurts so bad I can't 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝! I c-can't 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗞!

I could only hear the echos of dads' words echoing in my head, I was messing up my lines again for another product and after so many times he just 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝘁 it. His words were so piercing and jaded, that they were ripping into me like knives. His voice deep, and bellowing with disgust, like one would talk about the trash. Dad's words were downright 𝗧𝗢𝗫𝗜𝗖.

" I wish 𝗬𝗢𝗨 died instead of your 𝘽𝙍𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙎- instead of your 𝙈𝙊𝙏𝙃𝙀𝙍! "

" AT LEAST THEY WOULD BE 𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗙𝗨𝗟! "

" YOU ARE SUCH A 𝗗 𝗜 𝗦 𝗔 𝗣 𝗣 𝗢 𝗜 𝗡 𝗧 𝗠 𝗘 𝗡 𝗧 "

I-I know I'm not the perfect son- the perfect child out of my 15 siblings. But I try- I try so hard. I try s-so 𝙁𝙐𝘾𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 hard... why can't he see that? I wear the prosthetics even though they hurt, I went to Business school- I gave up my 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 for him! WHY AM I NOTHING TO HIM?! AM I N-NOT HIS SON-NOT HIS 𝘾𝙃𝙄𝙇𝘿?!

* Sniff *

Am...

Am I really nothing to him...?

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and felt bile in my throat, it tasted revolting and burned. I darted off my bed and launched my door open and ran to the bathroom. My prosthetics were pinching me but I paid them no mind as I dashed in the dark hallway before turning into the bathroom. The white door swung open with a loud BANG. I worried for a moment as I open the lip to the toilet that I may have woken up my dad, but then I remember he took his sleeping meds today. After throwing up in the toilet and looking in the bowl with blank eyes, I felt myself tear up again. I swallowed my spit, even if it did sting a little, and flushed the toilet and watched the contents of my stomach disappear down the drain. I went to stand and go back to my room to cry but was very quickly hit with a headache and dizziness, I put my hands on the bathroom counter to steady myself. I just stayed there, standing trying to get my bearings before I looked at myself in the eyes via the mirror.

I was pale and clammy looking, my eyes red and puffy, lips peeling and bleeding from biting them and I was shiny with sweat, my hair was everywhere and fuzzy from my tugging. My clothes were bunchy and wrinkled and sticking to my skin. I looked like crap. The longer I looked at the mirror, the more I just 𝙃𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 myself. I was just standing and seeing all of my flaws come out from the dark.

' Maybe dad's right... '

I think as I continue to shake with grief. The worst thing? It wasn't the fact I believed him or that on some level I knew that this was wrong. It wasn't that he kept on comparing me to my brothers, that he was pushing me out of my comfort zone with not a single thought of m-my well being. It was that I still 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 him, I-I still love him so much. I mean, he's my d-dad... how can I not love him unconditionally?. ' He's right he's right he's right he's right he's right he's right he's- ' was the only thing in my head now. It was swirling all around me and I could feel myself cry.

He'srighthe'srighthe'srighthe'srighthE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHTHE'SRIGHT𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗛𝗘'𝗦-

_𝙃𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙀𝙧𝙞𝙘, 𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙁𝙊𝙊𝙇_

And just like that, it felt like I broke the surface in an ocean as I gasped and look at the mirror in front of me. H-how could I forget the mirror lady? Evelyn, It's been a couple of weeks since the first time we meet. After she left I was scared to call her, I've seen a good number of horror movies to know the possible outcome. But now that I think about it, she looked too sad and nice to do anything bad to me. So I crawled on top of the counter-top, hitting one of my prosthetics along the way with a wince, and placed my right hand on the glass. I think of Evelyn; her silent comfort, the humming of a song I don't know, and her blank but concerned eyes. Suddenly I hear a light tap on the glass. I open my eyes, not even knowing I closed them and took a shaky breath.

The white wall of the bathroom no longer reflected in the mirror, there was nothing but a dark void of nothingness. There she stood with a concerned smile and upturned brows. Dressed in business casual, Evelyn softly placed her right hand and words a appeared on the mirror for me to read. < Eric, what's wrong? > I look at the words as if they were the sun and moon in the sky. This was the first time in a long time, not including the first time we met, that 𝗔𝗡𝗬𝗢𝗡𝗘 asked if I was okay. The last person that asked me that was my mom.

< Eric, dear, you're crying...>replaced the old words and I was- I was crying, I could hear the pitter patter of my tears hitting the marble counter. " I'm-I'm fine, I just- I just thought you would-wouldn't show up... " I said softly. < I promised, right? and I always keep my promises! > Evelyn said as she gave me a big smile. Despite her peculiar appearance, skin like broken glass, blank white eyes, blood on the sides of her mouth and coming out her nose, I cracked a small watery smile " R-right ". I sniffed then shifted to where I could lean against the wall with my left shoulder. " I'm j-just... it's my-my dad, again " I admit seeing no reason to lie or defend my dad. I see her eyes narrow before she just sighs and asks < Do you want to talk about it? I normally feel better when I talk about my problems, but we don't have to unless you're comfortable > I thought about it before nodding. I-I mean the first time we ever meet it was the reason as it was today ( tonight? ), my dad.

" H-he exploded again, the same re-reason as last time, I was messing up my l-lines and he just- " I made an exploding motion with my hands as I looked at the counter " l-lost it and then he st-started saying su-such t-terrible things! ". I just sat there telling her what had happened, just rambling and then losing myself in my words but I was interrupted with the tapping on the glass. Evelyn put her hand flat on the glass again and said < What he said was horrible, and he had no right to say those things to you > I, of course, went to defend him " N-No! It's my fault, I-I messed up on m-my lines an- " tap tap on the glass and new words appeared < Oh phonus balonus!(1) whether it was his fault or yours, he had no right to bring up something as _personal_ and _sensitive_ as the **death** of your **siblings** or _ **MOTHER!**_ >. Her face pinched and shoulders hunched with tension, < Eric, I said it once and I'll say it again, He is a **FOOL** and a complete and _utter_ idiot > Evelyn suddenly smirked as new words said < Why, if I was there with you I'd tell him to go chase himself out (2) > I really did not understand what that meant but I got the jest of it.

And that's how the night went, me and her just talking without care. Before I left the bathroom two hours later Evelyn tapped the glass to say < I hate to ask but, what year is it? > I thought it was odd but answered it anyway " U-um, 2019...why? " Her face showed nothing but surprise and shock. She shook her head and added < nothing, just a women's curiosity. Oh! Thought I mention this, as long as you have a mirror you can contact me. so we don't have to keep on meeting in the washroom >. I guess that made sense when I thought about it, I nod my head and said my thanks before Evelyn disappeared. As I take off my prosthetic and lay on my bed to get some rest, I can't think of the small frown when she mentioned promises. ' Wonder what that was... ' was the last thing I thought of before I let sleep claim me.  
.

.

.

.

.

.

_" Damien? Daammiiieennnn? HEELLLOOOO?? " I knock on his door, It's been a whole day since I last saw him and he wasn't in class. I asked Mark a few minutes ago if he'd seen him but he also said he hadn't, and that was really concerning. Damien all ways is with me or Mark and ALWAYS in class, the fact neither me or Mark have seen him? Real worrying, So here I am. In the boys building, I've snuck in enough times that I know the ins and outs, knocking on Damien's dorms door. Nothing, not even a grunt. ' Okay, this isn't working. Plan B it is! ' I think as I look around for anyone before going with my back up plan._

_I take out the spare key Damien gave me when I had to get something for him in here and unlock the door. " knock knock " I say quietly as I enter, I look around the cream colored room before seeing a lump on Damien's bed. I quickly walk over to the bed and see him, asleep and flushed red, I hissed before putting the back of my hand to his head. ' Just like I feared, he's sick ' I think as I look across the room and look at his desk and see nothing but papers, books, and far too many mugs. " and you tell me to take care of myself, ya hypocrite " I say with an eye roll. I walk into his small kitchen and look for something to cook him. Ya see Damien has a nice big dorm with a kitchen all to himself, reason? His daddy and mommy got money and are big shots here, what they say goes. Though that does make this a lot easier, I managed to make a fast bowl of soup right before I heard him groan. " Nice to see with the living, Dams. " I say as I walk out with a small bowl of soup in my hand and a glass of water in the other._

_" E-Evelyn?... what are you- " Damien coughed in the middle of his sentence that made me make a face " you doing her-here? ". I sat down next to him as I set the soup on his bedside so I could smooth out my pants, " Well for one, you missed class an- " I was caught off by him shooting up really quickly. " **WHAT DO YO-** " Damien didn't get far with asking me questions as he started coughed as I pushed the glass of water to him with a hard face" **AND** don't worry I took notes for you, now drink the god damn water. And that's the second reason.  **you.** **are.** **sick**. " I continued with a hard voice as I watch him drink before taking the water from him and hand him the soup. " W-what? no, I'm not- I'm perfectly fin- " I cut him off with an unbelieving tone and say " yeah yeah, Bushwa(3) you are!". We sit in silence with nothing but the sound of Damien eating my soup before he talks again. " Evelyn I c!!an assure you I am perfectly fine. " I once look at him and say in the blandest voice " UN uh, Tell it to Sweeney(4) " he stutters before he gives._

_" O-okay, I may be under the weather but I still need to study and work on my assignments! " Damien says trying to lessen the facts of that he is very sick. " What you **NEED** is to rest! You are sick, ill, unwell- whatever! the fact of the matter is, you are in no condition to **WORK**! " I tell him as he sets the bowl aside. " Dear, you don't understand- I need to pass this class so I can graduate and become mayor, so I can this city a better place- " Damien with his face flushed red and he raises his voice, not by much but to let me now he is very upset. " **NO!** What **you** don't understand is that you can't pass this class, that you can't graduate, that you can't become Mayor- if you are too **sick** and or **DEAD** from overworking yourself! " I tell him as I poke Damien in the chest. " **YOU CAN'T HELP ANYONE IF YOU ARE TOO UNWELL TO EVEN MOVE A FINGER!** " I said in his face with a glare, I get why he's working so hard- what his motives are. But that means nothing if he's dead from stress and overworking!_

_Damien and I are mere inches apart from each other, I can feel his breath and the warmth coming off of him in waves as we look at each other in the eyes. Damien finally relents, " yes, you are... right. " he sighs with defeat. " Damien I understand why you're doing this, but please. Take better care of yourself " I say as I touch his shoulder to push him back into the bed. " I worry for you- Mark worries for you. If not for me, at least try to take better care of yourself for Mark. He was really worried for you when I said I haven't seen you all day". We're both quiet as we just take in the presence of each other. Damien finally says " Thank you for caring, and talking down some notes for me- I know you hate it " he ends with a soft chuckle before he starts coughing again. I hand him the water again before I say " Of course, you're my friend. I'll always be with you... " I promise with a small smile. " Always, huh? think I like the sound of that... " He says with a chuckle, " yup, I promise to the moon and back. Even when I'm an old wrinkly lady ...or dead " I say with a huff at the image._

_" I'm rethinking that now... "_

_" Too late!, now get some rest before I hit you! "_

_" Bu- " *** SMACK *** " W- DEAR STOP HITTING ME! " _

_" **GO. TO. SLEEP!** AND DON'T ' DEAR ' ME! YOU- "  *** SMACK * * SMACK * * SMACK ***_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and having more background on Damiens/Darks relation to Evelyn in this story  
> Hope you guys like Eric Derekson, because he is going to be here- he is a major character in the story too  
> 1.“Phonus balonus!”: “That’s nonsense!” or “That’s horseshit!”  
> 2\. “Go chase yourself!”: “Get out of here!”  
> 3.“Bushwa!”: “Bullshit!”  
> 4.Tell it to Sweeney!”: what you say when you believe something to be untrue; “Tell it to someone who would buy that!”  
> these are all saying from the 1920s that I think are neat.


	6. Chapter 6: Mirror Talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek is away so Eric calls Evelyn for mirror talks

Time has passed since meeting Eric, 4 years to be more precise. When I first found out that its been 100 years since the poker night from hell, it surprised me but made sense. Being in the void, being in the manor, messed with my understanding of time. Time had no meaning. What felt like a few years were century.

 

**Â̸̛͉̿̿̾̆̊̉̅͒̏L̶̛̺͔̟̗͖͚͍͕̪̄̔̃̅̈́̌̈̋̓͜Ơ̷̦̱͖̜̓̑̇̈͆͛̂̾͠Ņ̷͔̫͇͓͎͈͍̲͇̠̼̒̅͂́͆̂͐͌̍̈̋̀͗̚͜ͅĘ̴̛͈̼̪̥͎͍̬̭̌͆͆̆̐͗̇**

 

In the 4 years that I and Eric have been talking, after getting more familiar with him and trying to heal the mental wounds his father gave him ( Thank god it was only mental. Not that it was okay, just. If it was that and physical I would have- I don't know?!?! But I would have kicked Derek's ass! ). He's been catching me up with the world. Eric's dad was away so he called me to talk. After the second he called me, he began talking to me more frequently. We don't talk in the bathroom anymore, we now talk in his room via the sliding mirror door. Eric was happily talking about how he and his dad were moving into a new home. Apparently, he and his dad were summoned by the head of the household to live with them.

Eric's dad, Derek, had been unyielding at first throwing the letter in a fit of rage. But they kept on appearing and more and more then things began happening to the business, Derek finally caved after the thousandth letter and called a moving company.

( _I can not tell you the shit-eating grin I got when I heard on how quickly he just gave up_ )

Of course, I worried about the business. I may not like Derek but I understand that that was how they got their money. Eric then explained that it wasn't anything big, just somethings going missing, and workers getting more sick and unable to work. Small things that would get more and more challenging if it kept going on. Eric and I were talking for the moment, with the total certainty knowing Derek was out for the moment, something about meeting the head of the household. Eric was talking about how he and his father were something called ' Egos '. And that they, Eric, have gotten an astonishing amount of fans and love in the short time they have been exposed to the fanbase.

" I really d-don't understand, " Eric says as he looks at me helplessly " W-why do t-they like me so-so much? " I huffed and said < Of course, they like you! You're amazing and not to mention- > I wave my hand at him, calling him to come closer. < You're such a cutie pie! > Eric's face turns a bright face and starts groaning, " E-EVELYN! STOP! UGHHHHH " I just start laughing. < Okay, okay! So tell me about this new home you're going to live in > I ask as pulled my knees up to my chin. Eric stayed on the carpeted floor but rolled onto his belly and looked to me before nodding, " W-well apparently there are going to be a lot of other people living there t-too, other egos. And it's r-really big, like one of those f-fancy manors and stuff " the thought new people excited and worried me.

Eric is a shy guy, naturally skittish and sensitive to boot add that with Derek's emotional abuse? There you have the perfect recipe for an easily overwhelmed person. he doesn't do well with new people, loud noises or large groups of anything. But I also saw this as a way for him to make friends, not saying that I'm not happy with Eric being my friend but I can't exactly give him what a person that's not stuck in a mirror can. Not to mention I'm kinda, maybe, sorta... dead? I'm not sure about my state of being, but I do know one thing. I can't relate to him in the way people from his time can, I'm from the 1920s. I'm out of touch with time. I'm also technically old enough to be his great grandmother, and I don't want to think about that!

< Baby?... > I asked as I realized a sudden problem, " Y-yeah? What's wrong? " Eric said as he saw how worried I looked. < how many people will be there? > as I brought my hand to brush my hair out of my face " umm m-maybe more t-than 10 people?? " I blinked as I thought ' 10- more than 10 people!?!? ' shocked at the large number of people. ' Then again Eric did say it was a manor.. ' I sigh ' now that makes this a real problem '

< Eric, how am I going to talk to you? > Eric looked confused, < Baby, we only talk when your father is away or sleeping. and even then we are both slightly on edge as we don't know if he will catch us. > I look at him in the eyes as he moves to sit up and look at my words better, < What I'm trying to say is, How are we going to talk with 10+ people in a single area of space? >. Eric seems to understand my question now and starts to sweat and fidgeting. Me and Eric both understand that living with more than one person just means that you're giving up your privacy, I had older siblings as did Eric. So we both understand the sentiment of ' no privacy '.

" I-I don't know... Evelyn, I don't know what we're g-going to do! " He said with panic very apparent in his voice, I couldn't answer him because I didn't know what to do either. < I don't know, dear, I don't know. But we'll cross that bridge when we cross it > I say as I look at Eric, < And we'll be okay >. " Promise? " Eric puts his hand on the mirror where my hand is, < To the moon and back > We sat in silence for a few more seconds. " D-Do you think I'll make f-friends? " Eric asked me < No. > he looked so hurt before I gave him a big smile < I **KNOW** so! I know your're going to make friends and they are going to be amazing! > He gave me a watery smile before he nodded. " T-thanks you E-Evelyn.. " I returned the smile as I give him a thumbs up. We talked for hours about what we thought the other egos would be like and we both hoped they would be nice, for Eric's and my own sake.

( _I didn't want to scar the shit out of anyone and Eric didn't want to be a outcast_ ) 

As of right now we were talking a little about my life before I met Eric and what I did, " S-so you were a l-lawyer? " I nodded before clarifying with pride < yes, a District Attorney in fact >. Eric suddenly looked very curious before asking " H-how do you deal with yelling a-and not c-crying?? " I closed my eyes as I answered with a deep, long suffering sigh. < Let me tell you it gets really, and I mean, **REALLY** close > I then pointed to my face , more specifically my endlessly failing tears, < I'm, like, a 100% sure these are all my suppressed tears from being yelled at court >. Other than that we just did what me and Eric normally did, go on his laptop and watch YouTube compilations videos about vine, art, or animals. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Sorry it took so long I had a big case of writers block. Also hope you liked the DA's little shit personality coming thru. sorry for the short chapter!!


	7. Chapter 7: Off feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look around in the manor with new egos makes for some off putting feelings on both sides

 

I strolled the halls of the manor, looking around to see that was everything was in place. The dark wooden floors were polished and cleaned by the Googles, the widows and the mirrors shined to perfection. Nothing was out of place; as per my instructions. It was pleasing to see that they followed my orders.

 

**For once.**

 

I could hear the tap of the other's feet as they walked around doing their tasks. The reason everyone was cleaning and sprucing up the place? We were having guest, new egos that would be living with us in the main house. I had already given them the address, made them their floor and had met with the older of the two, Derek. **~~( I truly do not like the man he seemed horrid and, if the clips of what he has done to be believed, is a shit-work of a parent~~ **). They weren't moving in today, merely seeing where they were staying now. As well as that they would be learning the rules, the dos and don'ts, and meeting most of the other egos living here. Of course, the wouldn't be meeting all of the egos, that's simply ridicules, as some don't live here. Some of them simply were just not created to stay in one place, The most powerful ones or the ones that can't risk being left alone in the public, live here.

 

When I made my way to the living room and saw that everyone was there, Wilford immediately called me out. " Ah! Darkimoo, good to see you here! I was beginning to wonder if you would show up. " I looked at him and huffed before I replied as I straightened out the sleeves of my suit " Hm, I see no reason on why I wouldn't be here Wilford. I did request that everyone clean up the house and themselves for the guest. If I did that and not show up as head of the house- " My eyes scan the room as I fold my hands behind my back and squared my shoulder " - What type of impression would I be leaving? " I ask as I look at Will again. He was in his usual business casual; a light yellow long sleeve shirt tucked into khakis with his stable pink suspenders, his pink stash was in its usual style without a single hair out of place, and his hair was slightly combed with the pink top of it still ' poofy ' and untamed.

 

He laughed and put his right hand on my shoulder, " I guess you have me there! " then he leaned slightly using his extra bit of height so he could use me as an armrest. " What's that special occasion? Everyone's in tip-top shape, even Goop is out of their normal form! " he pointed as if to prove something, and he was right Goop was in a more... ' human ' form than normal. The only thing that gave him away was the slime (?) coming out of his mouth, " Our guest, as I said before, are coming over as to see everyone and know the rules before they fully move in. " I then shove him off as I move towards the Googles.

 

All four wherein their normal clothing with the 'G' on their shirts glowing brightly, Google ( Blue ) then turned to me " All tasks have been done Dark, and Derek Derekson and his son are approximately half an hour away. " and pulled up a map with a red dot that showed it was on its way here. I raised my eyebrow when I saw the map but chose not to ask, " Good. " and turned away to walk. Time seemed to pass with Wilford talking to me about our new... ' family members ' as he would say.

 

It was 3:20 PM when we all heard a knock on the door and a shuffle of feet, I motioned for Bim to open the door as he was the closet. The first one was obviously Derek as I met him prier to this, and if his overflowing pride and his uncomfortable presence said anything. He was wearing a more formal white button-up shirt than the American flag one he wore in his debut and when I met him face to face, he was decently tall and his hair was gelled back and away from his face. The second man, Eric, is what truly caught my eyes.

 

He was tall, 6'6 ft, and slightly more muscular than his father, despite his looks, Eric was curled into himself as if trying to make himself look small and disappear. He too was also wearing a different shirt than he was wearing in debut it was a navy, orange, a lighter orange and white geometrical shirt that was tucked into his jeans. His hair was also neat but free of gel and showed his waves, he was slightly sweaty and his eyes behind his glasses were starting every in the room at the moment. But what really threw me off was that he had prosthesis, I truly did not know and I did look throw some of the fans content as well as head canons but I never really took them to heart. He looked uncomfortable standing like his fake legs were... ill-fitting.

 

But, there was one more thing that made me curious about him. I just can't put my finger on it.

 

I walked towards them when they came closer to the living room area, I stand in front of them looking down at Derek as Bim retreats to the others as I talk with him. I saw that Bim was looking over at the three of us before turning over and talking to the others. As I was explaining to both of Dereksons the general rules and showing them the other egos of the household. I couldn't help but get this feeling from Eric, something about him felt... familiar. Like I knew him- but that was strange as this was my first time meeting him. Another strange thing about Eric was that he always looked at the mirrors with some affection or as if he was waiting for something-someone even.

 

I was only when I released them to explore and made my way to my office it was that I passed Eric, that the feeling grew stronger to the point that... That I recognized this feeling- this emotion I was feeling and I could only place that emotion with one, singular person.

 

**Evelyn**

 

I was suddenly bombarded with every emotion I have ever felt with her. The warm feeling in my stomach I would get when she said my name warmly, the butterflies when she looked into my eyes with something I couldn't understand at the time, when I felt like more than a million bucks because I knew Evelyn was in my corner, the concern when she got sick, the absolute fear when she was angry at me or was angry at someone for me. The happiness when she said she would be my DA...the utter regret I'm feeling right now because I left her alone.

 

I spun around to look for Eric but I was he was carted off with Bim to be shown around the corner, I quickly made my way to my office and locked the door. I picked up the picture frame and looked at the frozen smiling face of Evelyn. I kept looking at it like she would start talking and answer me, why did this man feel the same as her. Why he had that gentle but uplifting feeling that I only knew with her and ONLY her.

 

why

 

Why

 

**WHy**

 

**WHY**

 

**WHY**

 

**W̵̨̬͓͔̖͍̠͍̠̞̹͍͐͛͌̈́͛̈́̂͑͂̚͜͝͝͝ͅḦ̶̡̨̡͙̮̗̗̖̰̟̪̼̱͔̪̋̃Y̵̬̳̺̬̼̬̑̈́**

 

I slammed the picture frame on the dark wood of my desk as I turn around and pulled whiskey out from a compartment and poured some for me, I hissed at the sting of the alcohol and the feeling of my shell- no HER BODY breaking slightly. I sank into my chair, pushing my hair out of my face and cracking my neck to calm myself down and get myself under wraps. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, and opened them to see a nightmare.

 

Evelyn was in front of my desk in purple light, with tears running down her face and blood coming from her stomach, mouth, and nose. Her dark was messy and clothing out of place, her voice that I missed so was broken and cracked with emotion as she asked.

 

" Why...? "

 

She walked closer as she spoke again " You told me so many things... " her dark brown eyes that used to hold life and in the right light looked like the earth with hidden gold, looked so sad and lifeless and, and **ANGRY**. " You promised me, you _**PROMISED**_ that we would do this _**TOGETHER**_ that I wouldn't be _**ALONE**!_ " Evelyn was in front of me and griping my face. " you _LIED_ to me, I _TRUSTED_ you- I let you _**IN**_ and you do **THIS** to me?!?! "

 

" **YOU LAIR** "

 

" **BETRAYER** "

 

" **MONSTER** "

 

" **ABOMINATION** "

 

" **DISGUSTING THING** "

 

I heard something shatter like glass with what she said next.

 

" I HATE YOU WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! I MEAN HOW COULD I NOT?! LOOK AT ME- LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID TO ME! " she spread her arms as if showing off something amazing, but in reality, was showing off my many mistakes. Then she shattered again, leaving me thinking with my face down as I grip my whiskey glass in a tight grip.

 

_~~' please,... don't leave me... '~~ _

 

I sight out as I felt tears slip down my face and onto the glass before I look at the picture on the desk.

 

" God damn it "

 

* * *

 

  
I looked around the big house as Mr. Bim walked me and Dad into the living room, it was really weird to see another person with a face that looked like mine and dads'. I was even more strange when I saw an even bigger group of people with the same face, it was like looking at my brothers. But before I could think more on that a man in a dark gray suit walked up to us, Mr.Bim then walked away with a fast goodbye before joining the group.

 

The man that walked up to us had an aura of power and commanded- no demanded respect and attention. His skin was gray and hair dark as night, his eyes were like pits of darkness, unfeeling and uncaring, that shined red and blue slightly, with an emotionless face, the air around him looked like it was crackling with energy. When looking at him it was like looking at him with those cheap 3D glasses I would get as a kid, he spoke with an echoing voice as he grated us. " Hello gentlemen, and welcome to the Iplier manor. " he held out his hand to shake, dad grabbed it first and then I did after him. His hands were icy and rough- like a **dead body**.

 

" It's very nice that you both could come and see your new home, I am known as Darkiplier but please, call me Dark. " Mr. Dark flashed us a small smile, but it felt wrong and it didn't reach his eyes. He then went on about the general rules and what to do and what not to do, as well as introducing us to the others.

 

Wilford, Bim, The Host, The Jims, King of the Scurals, Ed, Silver Sheperd, Yanderiplier, Gloopiplier, The Googles, Bing, Dr.Iplier and more. They all looked nice or at least looked like they wouldn't do anything out of reason. After that Mr. Dark showed us some of the more casual areas of the house, there were a lot of mirrors and that made me happy! More places to talk to Evelyn with but I also had my compact mirror I had bought for her. At the end of the small tour, Mr. Dark let me and dad explore it was nice. Dad hadn't said a single thing to me and everyone was nice to me, but one thing stood out to me. It was the way Dark looked at me, it was like he was looking for something. It got more strange when right before Mr. Bim took me around the corner, I saw Mr. Dark whip around as if looking for something with a wild and desperate look in his eyes. It was weird, there was also this deep sadness too. A type of sadness I only saw with Evelyn when we talked about her life before I met her.

 

As I and dad left I thought of only one thing ' Evelyn will love this place, I should tell her about it later. ' as I put my hand in my pocket as held the mirror and look out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! sorry This look longer than I would have liked but I thank you all for our waiting and lovely comments! If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask them in the comments and I'll answer them if I can as fast as I can!


	8. Chapter 8: A jar with a purple broken heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love come right when it is need and leaves right when it is meant to, and if love never leaves?

 

< WHAT DOES HE EVEN MEAN!?! LIKE WHA->

" H-hey... Evelyn? "

I look up from the computer and look at Eric with a confused face, < Yes? something the matter? > I ask as I shift to better face him. Eric looked troubled and like he was about to just say ' never mind ' before he looked like he made up his mind, I smiled a little as he made up his mind and made his choice. It's nice to see that he's getting more confident in himself, " I-I've been meaning t-to ask... I-I mean u-umm. When w-we talk about you're... " He trails off slightly. Eric finds talking about my end and my life before ' _this_ ' before the mirrors... touchy, and I guess I do too in a sense. I mean I don't bring it up, I get kinda.. quiet and I try to rub my tears away more like I can actually get rid of them. It's an awkward affair on both sides, to say the least.

< Eric, baby, it's fine to ask. > I look into his brown eyes with a soft understanding look, < It's okay to be curious, you don't know that much. > I reassure him and I'm not wrong. When we do talk its nothing too personal or personal at all, just what I did for a living and how life was back then for a girl like me. We didn't do deep dives like we did for him, and now that I think about it. It was unfair. Eric looks unsure again before asking " D-did you have anyone... _s-special_? " I look surprised and ask < umm... define ' someone special '? >. Eric plays with his hands before clarifying " Y-ya know... like a _boyfriend_ or somebody you l-liked?? " I looked at him dumbly before my face turns a bright red. I open and close my mouth without a sound before I just look to the side.

< I- I mean yes... in a way, you could say that. > I look fondly at my words and I could think only one person- one **man** that just- just... stole my heart. " Could... you tell me about them? " Eric looked so curious, like a child asking their mother how they met their father, I couldn't say no. My face pulled into a soft smile as I nodded " O-okay so... what was th-their name? " he asked.

I could feel my heartbeat race and my chest felt heavy as I told him < His name was Damien, and he was amazing. > I leaned against the mirror as I sighed < He was my **EVERYTHING**. >. " How'd you g-guys meet? " I close my eyes < We met at University, college as you guys would say, I met him in the library. > I look at Eric < I remember when I met him, there was something that just **called** to me- sang and drew me in and _kept_ me there. > I chuckled < Not like I complained. >. I remember walking up to him in a show of confidence in the school library and introduced myself. When he looked up at me and I saw those dark blue eyes, I felt the air in my lungs get stolen from me. God, it was like... looking at an _angel_.

" Really? " Eric giggled at me, < I know, okay! I **KNOW**! > I huffed at him before I continued < God! how would I describe him?! He was charismatic, magnetic, electric, and everybody knew him. When he walked into the room there was a spotlight on him! When I looked at him it was like look at the _sun_. >

I looked at Eric and saw he was looking at me with excitement and wonder, silently urging me to go on. " Wh-what did he l-look like? " I took a dreamy sight < Tall, dark and handsome. > Eric flashed me a ' _are you serious_ ' face as I added < But he still had this boyish charm and he was a huge gentleman, he was kind without a second thought and a natural leader to boot! > I think of the multiple actions where he would rush to open the door for me and help me grab things because it was ' _the gentlemen thing to do_ ' as he would say. < He was like a force of nature, you couldn't stop him and you couldn't **not** watching what he would do! Dams was this mix-this hybrid of a man- > I reach into my back pocket to grab that photo I had taken all those years ago. < \- hellbent on doing what he wanted-being a good man, a sweet, honest man and missing out on the things life could offer a man as magnificent as him. > I look long and hard at Damien's' face.

God, he was _beautiful_ \- fuck he was **more** than that! I couldn't even begin to describe him, he was transcendent! < Oh I loved him, I loved him... I was just so scared to say anything. > I look back up at Eric as he looked in surprise at the picture of me and my two boys. " D-do... do you s-still love him? " He asked as he looked at me, did I? After all, he did to me I mean I forgave his actions in a way but did I still love him? I look at the picture and caress Damien's face with my thumb and think of him.

There was no denying that Damien was good looking with a long angular face, a good body and those soulful eyes of his. He had a great personality; he was humble despite his rich and privileged background, gentle but no pushover, he was ambitious and passionate about what he wanted- what he did, sensitive and a real thinker. I think of the moment I had with him.

Sleeping in the same bed with each other for one reason or another, warm looks and soft, loving touches, time with nothing but our presences and we sat a did work, sneaking out and having fun downtown. Stargazing on the roof, sharing clothing, and eyes full of things I couldn't understand in those eyes of his. I look up at Eric and give him the answer he wanted- the answer I knew that despite what he did to me. That I still... after all these years.

< I loved him, and I still love him with my whole heart. Guess that's what happens when you love someone with your entire being. I loved him then and I love him, now that a fact. >

Eric gives me a big face splitting smile, " T-that amazing Evelyn! " I nod to him, it is love is an amazing thing- a wonderful thing. After that it was then we decided it was best we both get some rest, Eric had moving to help with.

As I return to my familiar but unwelcoming darkness, I sit in the light as I normally do and block out the groans and whisper of the others. I pull out the picture again, it was a funny but a wonderful picture all the same. The image of me, Mark and Damien were tilted as the camera was in the middle of falling when the picture was falling. It showed me lunging forward to catch the thing in the front, Mark was laughing like the prick he was knees bent in the middle ground, and then sweet Damien was in the background freaking out with his hands running through his hair with his mouth open. I smiled and lightly kissed both of them on the head as to not get blood on them. One of my ever flowing tears land on my glasses lens and on the picture so I wipe it away and put my treasure away and look the moonless sky. I sigh and think.

' Love is a fickle thing ' so I went into a dreamless sleep with a heart light and full of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you this lovey dovey chapter w/ the DA! I am going to make this slow burn a SLOW BURN, this will be painful on both sides. Remember its okay to ask questions in the comments and I'll answer if I can, as fast as I can. See ya next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9: Evelyn Evelyn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn, Evelyn,  
> Why do we bother to stay?  
> Why are you running away?  
> Don't you feel like severing?  
> Everything's just come together at last  
> It's broken, I don't want to play

 

 

 

 

 

I sat alone in the shade of the void before the mirror as I look at the face of Damien in the picture, a small loving smile on my face. Damien, my crush, my love, my sun, my everything, and my... **betrayer**. My smile was gone and replaced with a frown, I knew what he did was wrong and he broke my trust and had no reason to be forgiven or even _somewhat_ forgiven. I _should_ hate him- I **did** hate him and everyone for a _long time_ but I let go, I let go and moved on. Moved on for the better.

 

" **Pathetic** " an echoing voice said from the darkness full of venom and hate

 

I whipped my head around to see who said that, as far as I knew, I was the only person here. I put the picture away into my back pocket and searched for the voice. It was female, that was undeniable, it low for most women but still high enough to be identifiable and it flat. Monotone, even if not for the hiss of scorn. It sounded familiar, like an old well-loved song. you knew it, you knew the dance to it but now you can't remember the words or even how the melody is.

 

But it soon became all to clear on _why_ that voice was so familiar to me. I watched the shape of a person walk out the shadows, the dark tendrils slipping of them- off of her- **ME** like ink.

 

Round face still childish, small button nose, big down-turned eyes, full lips, wide shoulders, subtly curves with narrow hips. I- _she_ is illuminated with a sickly purple, her eyes that would have been a nut-brown were the same shade of dark purple as she scowled at me. She stood with her back straight, shoulder square with clenched fists and grit teeth. The other me practically lunged forward as she spat out again " **Pathetic**. you. are. so. pathetic! " I opened my mouth but quickly closed it as I knew I could not speak as I wanted. " How could you!?!? How could you forgive that-that **MONSTER**! After everything he's done to you! " she bellowed as she walked-no stalked forward like an angry and starving animal.

 

' How could I? How could I **not**! Damien was my _everything_! ' I think as I glance at her, how was this possible?!?! two of me In this damned place? Or was this a trick being pulled the demon of the home, before I could continue on that, other me replied: " The keyword in that sentence is ' was '- he _WAS_ your everything " she was in front of me now, mere inches away. " He _left_ you!- " she poked me roughly in the chest " - _Abandoned_ you! With that whore of a sister of his! " I gasped at her chose of words to describe Celine.

 

I knew Celine and I were never close, hell we've never met until that day after the fucking poker night. But still, that was no way to describe the Seer. It was at that moment that I finally used my forsaken voice but instead of it being _broken_ , instead of it _hurting_. My voice _flowed_ with ease " That is _NO_ way to speak of her! She and I may have not known each other but that gives you no excuse to speak ill of her! " I shove the other me away as I glare as much as my white, tear-filled eyes can. I go and touch my throat with shaky hands as I listen to the echo of my words, I never thought I would be able to speak again after _that_ time.

 

The imposter seemed as surprised as me before she growled out " She **_USED_** you! That bitch used you do she wouldn't get her hands dirty when seeing what happened that night! " then the imposter pointed with her hand and waved with another as she added on " And not to mention she had an _AFFAIR_ with her husbands' **BROTHER**! ". I pursed my lips, she wasn't wrong it **was** wrong of Celine to do that, but it was not my place to be judge, jury, and executioner. The imposter was shaking with rage before she spat out

 

" Fuck, she was probably was the one that told that _lair_ to steal your bo- "

 

" I **_AGREED_** to let them in! " I yelled at her quick to defend both Damien and his sister. I let them in _willingly_ , the fault was no ones but my own.

 

She snorted and smirked hatefully " More like tricked or would you prefer the word scammed? " I said nothing as I looked away. " Why do you even care?- fuck never-mind that- " I make moves to move close to this person " _Who are you?_ ". She starts to grin then giggle that turns into a horrifying cackle, she was bent over clutching her stomach. " Who am I? **WHO AM I?!?** " she puts her hands on her knees and continues " I'm **DAMN** well sure you know who the fuck I am, but since your so fucking _stupid_ to not only forgive that **motherfucker** \- " she stands up straight and whips off imaginary dust from her shoulders " - and not know who I am, guess I'll have to spell it out for ya! ".

 

" I'm **you** \- " it feels like the whole world was going in slow-mo as I zoomed in on her face.

 

" -and you're **me** , but to be more specific- I'm your **HATE** , your **RAGE** -" she circles me before grabbing the front of my shirt, pulling me closer than I would have wanted " - Your thirst for **REVENGE** , for ** _JUSTICE!_** ". I was shoved with such force that I send to my back as she stood above me with her legs on either side of me, she leaned down her dark hair creating a curtain as she hissed.

 

" I'm the **_REAL_** you. "

 

She smirked as she leaned back and walked away as I pushed myself up to see where she was. If she was me and she was the real me, what did that make me? " Oh honey, that means you're the _fake_ " she said with honeyed words. She pouted as if to sympathize when she saw I was shaking, I shook my head in defiance " NO! That's a lie! This doesn't make any sense! " she scoffs and spins around in a circle. " When was the last time anything made _sense_ in this hell hole? " I purse my lips before nodding to her with a sigh " Touche... " I stand and move my glasses out the way so I could rub my face. If she's me and I'm her, does that mean we're two sides of the same coin? The same being but different sides of the same person? If she represented my hate, my bitterness did that make her.... the me in my heart?

 

" Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner! " I snapped my head up to look at her as she clapped mockingly, I would have never guessed the hate and malice I had when being trapped in this mirror. Would grow into another person. " The only difference between us is- " she pointed to the darkness behind her, the void, it seemed to shift almost like a cat that wanted your attention " -that **The Mano** r has taken a _serious_ liking to **_me_**. " she grinned like it was some sort of morbid trophy. Like she was proud that this thing, this demon house, that used our friends like they were some cheap _puppets_ was an achievement of some sort.

 

" Just face the facts, I'm the real you and I'm not gonna let you kick me out you fake! " she grinned as she then launched herself at me with a raised fist, I manage to dodge by a hair's breadth. " Oh! and let us not forget the dear Colonel after, all he was the one that made it possible for those two **backstabbers** to take your body! " She added as I swiftly turned my body to where I could see her, " But of course, he **_broke_** as soon as he saw you stand up after that nasty little _fall_! ". I grit my teeth at that, now that was a person that was a _victim_ as much as I was.

 

" A **_VICTIM?!_** He was the _catalyst_ that made that son of a bitch Mark- "

 

" WHAT MARK DID WAS OF **NOT** OF HIS OWN _SANE_  CHOICE! **HE. WAS. USED**! "

 

" **STOP**! STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR THOSE **WEAKLINGS**! THEY WERE _WEAK_ , THEY WERE **_WEAK_** AND SO ARE **YOU**! " other me had managed to close the distance between us and land a solid right hook, it was a strong punch that was for sure. If I hadn't moved my feet I was sure I would have landed on my ass, my face was turned to the side as I took in the ache of the punch. I slowly moved my face back to where I could look at her, I actually really couldn't see her as my glasses had been thrown off by the force of the punch. But what I could see was surprising, she was shaking, maybe even trembling, and had tears in her eyes that look as if they were seconds away from falling. " IF IT WASN'T FOR _ME-_ IF IT WASN'T THE FACT YOU WERE SO _ANGRY_ AND **HURT**. YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN _CONSUMED_ BY THE HOUSE! "

 

I widened my eyes before narrowing them before I too landed a punch on her as I bellowed with confusion and anger evident in my voice " Why? **WHY** do you are! Why do you **care** what happens to me?! If I was consumed that just means you'll have _full control_ and do _whatever_ you want! " I look at her as she laid on her side on the ground from my punch, she was limp and still before she said as she pushed herself up with her elbows to look at me.

 

" Because I'm you, I'm you and I know you better than _anyone_. I know you better than anyone and yet- " I was soon knocked onto my back once more, this time my other half was above me and her hands around my neck. Strangling me " - WHY!?! WHY ARE YOU _FORGIVING_ THEM!?! AFTER ALL, THEY DID TO **_US_**! " I gasped for air as I struggled to get her off. I could only see her face- my face looking down at me with a glare, as I wiggle, I look into her eyes and when I do, I feel myself slow to a stop. I stop because all I see are...

 

_Tears_

 

They fall on my face like rain and I see her pain and confusion. My lips part as I take shallow breaths. I, ironically, see myself in her, I see the hurt and pain, and anger I had when I first got I here. The look as she looks for the answers in my eyes and all I can do is smile. I give her a sad, sympathetic smile and raise my right hand and touch her face softly. Her eyes widen before she snarls and tightens her grip on my throat, I snap my eyes close and move my hands to hers as she hisses " I don't need your _pity_ , I don't need your _sympathy._ what I need are _answers_! ".

 

" WHY ARE YOU _FORGIVING_ THEM!?! "

 

" WHY?!? "

 

" THEY **_USED_** YOU! "

 

" THEY **_BETRAYED_** YOU! "

 

" **_ABANDONED_** YOU! "

 

" **_KILLED_** YOU! "

 

" THEY LET YOU **_DIE_**! "

 

When she saw I wasn't going to answer her, her snarl deepened as she lifted my neck high enough where my head was off the ground then, she slammed my head back to the floor.

 

" THEY _LIED_ TO YOU! CAN'T YOU SEE THAT! "

 

Her grip tightened again

 

" DON'T YOU REMEMBER! "

 

I do remember, I remember it like it was yesterday. The poker night, the drinks, the laughs, then Marks body, Abe and Colonels' standoff, Celine arriving and the visions, the groundskeeper, Damien and Celine vanishing into thin air.

 

" I'm the **ONLY** on that will ever understand you "

 

" When they left you here... it **hurt**. "

 

" IT **_HURT_** SO BAD! " Her hands were shaking but her grip never faltered.

 

" YOU _CAN'T_ TRUST THEM! "

 

" YOU _SHOULDN'T_ FORGIVE THEM! "

 

" you're..r-right. "

 

The grip on my neck loosened and I could breathe again, she looked at me as I coughed with my eyes closed. " You're right, I shouldn't forgive them, but I do... " I opened when I felt her hands remove themselves from my throat and felt a weight on my stomach. I saw she was just sitting there with a confused look in her eyes, tears rolling down, as she whispered: " then **_why_**... ". I moved up to meet her as I sighed " Because I'm _so_ tired, I am so _very_ tired of being **angry** , of being **mad** over something I can't _change_. "

 

" So what!?! You're just **tired** of me?! WHAT AM I TO YOU! " She screamed at me but made no move to show she was going to attack me again, " AM I JUST SOME WALL- SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T MATTER!? " she covered her face with her hands as she cried. My eyes softened as I looked at her, this was me, my anger but I knew what she was. She was my sadness, my hurt, and feelings of betrayal and heartbreak. I smiled softly again before I put my arms around her and whispered " No, you're not. You said it yourself, if it wasn't for you I would be consumed by the house. I won't  _be here_  without you, so thank you for being there and thank you for keeping me here. " I know most people would have wanted to move on. I did too for a long time, I often asked on why I hadn't moved on, but now I had a purpose. Something to look forward to, talking to Eric and I couldn't just leave him alone now.

 

" And? * sniff * what am I suppose to do from now on...? " Other me asked with a weak voice, shaking in my arms I couldn't help but hug her tighter and answer " That's easy! " I pulled from the hug as I looked her in the eyes.

 

" You just need to become me. " I smile at her confused face as I cup her face and touch our foreheads together " You are me after all. ". Her eyes go wide before softening, suddenly the dark around us is taken over by a white light. The dark screeched as it was burned by the light but soon that white light was taken over, this time by a bright blue sky with no clouds. We both watch as the black, empty void is taken over by a beautiful sky, numerous amount of hill, and an endless amount of purple(1) and white flowers(2). The dark sick purple vanishes from my other half's body and leaves a copy of me without white eyes or creaks or blood. We are both kneeling in front of each other now, hands joined as we look at the scene around us.

 

" You're right ya know. that I shouldn't forgive them, that they used me. " She snaps her head back at me a look of surprise as I brought it up again, " But, I wasn't the only one used that night. Everyone was; Mark, Celine, Col-William, Damien-  _everyone_  in that house. And what they did can't be _excused_  but it can be  _forgiven_. " she looked at before she said " But you didn't  **deserve**  what happened to you! " I nodded in agreement.

 

" I know, I know. I-...  _WE_  didn't deserve what happened to us, and we still don't, what happened to us was  **wrong**  and  **horrible** and it hurts for a reason. " I touch the middle of her chest, where her- our heart is. " We were hurt by people we  _trusted_  and they hurt us as intentional or unintentionally as they wanted. But we also know the truth, yes we were used, but we  _weren’t_  the only ones. " I take her hands and grip them tight in my hold as look into her eyes. " The house used Marks broken heart and broken trust, it used Celine’s thirst for knowledge and revenge, it used the Colonels pride and broken mind, and it used my-your- **OUR** Damien’s uncertainty and sense of justice. It used them as much as it used us, I know what they did to us was wrong. " I smile faintly as I continue with my speech.

 

" They aren’t saints but it does take the sting away, it hurts  **less**  knowing that- " I gulp as I say with a voice full of emotions " - _Truthfully_  that what they did wasn’t fully them. We have to let go and move on, hate and revenge does good for no one. I mean- " I pause as I point to the both of us with a strained smile and see my other selves frown " -look where  **we**  ended up because of that. " I'm dead because of petty anger and revenge in the name of justice, I was left alone in the mirror I used to adore when I visited this cold and hollow home.

 

" You may not forgive them and I may not truly forgive them, but we don't have to forgive them to move on. But I'm going to move on and forgive because I know the causes of their actions. " I look down at our joined hands and let go as I just stare at mine. " Mark was broken-heated and betrayed and wanted the love of his life and closer, Celine just wanted the truth on what happened and to avenge her brother, The Colonel wanted to know where his best friend and the love of his life was, and Damien craved for all to be set right and everyone to be okay. " my fingers curl into mt palms and dig into my flesh as I say

 

" Yes, Mark  _lied_  to us all, yes Celine _used_ us, yes Colonel  _shot_  us and yes Damien _stole_ our body. And that’s unforgivable and we have every right to be angry but being mad can only do so much and- " I Sutter as I feel my throat get thick with emotions " - and being angry is  _trying_  and I am  **SO**  tired of being angry for something I can’t  **CHANGE**! I just want to move on- I want this  _deep ache_  in my heart to just  ** _go away_**. " I clutch my chest as I feel the pain in my heart grow as if on command, I grab her hand again " And I  **know**  you do too. ".

 

I felt her grip my hand with hers as she shakily asked " H-how? how can I move past t-these people the hurt m-me so  **much**? " I lift my head and look at her and see her dark brown eyes focused on me. Her eyes hunger for my answer to what to do, that despite her being me and knowing me better than anyone, she looked to me like a child at an adult. So I answer like any character played by Morgan Freeman, with wisdom and humility. " We don’t have to forgive them fully to move past them and see another tomorrow, we just have to let go. " I move the hand on my chest and pick up a white flower, a lily of the valley, and hold the bell-shaped flower in front of her face with gentle eyes and smile. The blue sky seemed to get even brighter and I felt a breeze as our hair flew up and petals of purple and white scattered around us.

 

" And watch the flowers bloom. "

 

I watch as tears fall from her wide eyes like a waterfall before they soften as a warm smile fills her face, soon shes laughing. It's not the horrifying cackle I heard before, no it's warm and full of joy and  _life_. Soon she pulls me into a hug that was full of thanks and gratitude " Thank you... " then she fades into flower petals that flow gently around me.

 

I sit there just soaking what just happened and that I feel lighter, more whole and at peace with myself. I creak a grin as I stand and move around to find my lost glasses, I soon find them in front of the broken mirror. The only thing that tells me I'm still in the manor, I put on my glasses and pull out the picture I was looking at before all this. I look at the mirror with a smile as I see the creaks on my neck seem less server but still present. I look at Damien's worried face as I huff, and kiss his forehead and sit as my tears fall on my pants.

 

" Still love ya,  _Starlight_... "

 

* * *

 

 

In a large mansion in an unknown location, a man in a dim and cold feeling office feels a soft presser and the smell of flowers, baked goods, and lemons. This sent he can only think of a woman that he loved and hurt.

 

" I'm so sorry little monster... I'm sorry, _Moonflower._ "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY! So sorry this took so long and that it was a LONG read! I have to say, this the easiest and hardest chapter I've currently written for this book. I thank you all foe the wait and hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, remember if you have ANY questions or anything you want to say put them in the comments and I'll answer them it I can!  
> (1)Purple Hyacinth meaning: Sorrow, I am sorry. Please forgive me.  
> (2)The lily-of-the-valley: a flower symbolizing new beginnings because of its expression of a return to peace and happiness


	10. Chapter 10: Funny voices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looks like someone forgot the dangers of living with other people

 

 

 

The next time Eric and Evelyn talk its when Eric and his father, Derek, were finally moved in the Iplier mansion. Evelyn had quite the shock that when she had returned to talk to Eric, he was in tears! Apparently, she was gone for _weeks_ and that left Eric with the thought that she had abandoned him or had moved to the great beyond.

 

Thankfully they were already in Eric's new room and he had a large mirror for them to talk to each other. " W-where were y-you? " Eric asked with tears running down his face as he presses his hands onto the mirror, Evelyn was quick to soothe him < Baby, I am so sorry! I didn't know that I was gone for so long! >. After Eric and Evelyn talked and she apologized for not being there and Eric saying it was fine, Eric asked her something that shocked her. " Evelyn i-is their something d-different with y-you? " Evelyn blinked with confusion before she asked < What do you mean? > Eric stuttered before he answered " W-well... the cracks on y-your neck l-look... better? " then he pointed behind her " Also i-it isn't all b-black now, t-there's flowers a-and a blue s-sky! ". Evelyn looked behind her and lo and behold the scenery from her place in the manor had followed her here, she shakily placed her hand on her neck. You see, Evelyn had forgotten she now had the ability to talk again after her encounter with her counterpart, along with the fact it was quite some time she had spoken and the first time she tried it hurt her. She'd practically sworn off trying to talk again, with this knowledge she placed her other hand on the mirror and said.

 

< I have something to... show you. >

 

Eric looked at the words with interest before asking " W-what is it? " he soon got his answer as Evelyn took a deep, shaky breath and cleared her throat. She smiled wide and looked into his brown eyes with her white tear-filled ones, his eyes opened wide and his mouth fell opened as he felt tears again.

 

" Hello, Eric Derekson. I'm Evelyn and I love you _so much_. "

 

A voice soft and full of warmth, and genuine _love_ brushed his ears, this-this was Evelyn's _voice_. It shook and cracked from not being in proper use for some time but it was everything Eric had imagined and _more._

 

Evelyn's voice is soft where Derek's was sharp, where her voice was gentle and full of love and warmth, his fathers' was harsh and full of scorn, disappointment, and ice. She was his fathers opposite in every sense of the word and this just solidified it. Evelyn was love and laughter, Derek was fear and tears. She brought out the best out him and healed his cuts with soft looks and kind words, his father brought out the worst him his and cut him without a knife because his tough _was_ the knife.

 

Derek Derekson was only his parent in name and blood, Evelyn was his _real_ parent- his mom.

 

" Oh, baby don't cry... I'm here. Evelyns' here "

 

Evelyn placed her hands where his were and hummed like she did the first time they met only this time she said the words that went with the song. Looking softly at this person that had become one of her most important people, that had become one of _her_ boys. One that despite all the wound and scars the world had given him, he had grown and bloomed with her. And if she wasn't so fucking **proud** of how far he's come, she'd be lying throw her teeth.

 

" _Wandering child of the earth_

_Do you know just how much you're worth?_

_You have walked this path since your birth_

_You were destined for more_ "

 

These lyrics echoed in the room softly and calmed the crying man in front of the mirror. Evelyn's singing wasn't perfect, it wasn't the most lovely thing, it wasn't smooth. It cracked and untrained but it was all _her_ and calmed Eric's heart, it wasn't like his mothers soft and lovely singing or his father's low voice. And that's all that mattered, she wasn't them.

 

His tears dried and Evelyn looked at him with a soft look and asked " You okay now? " Eric nodded and gave her a broken smiled, " Y-you have no i-idea how long I h-have wanted t-to heart that... ". Evelyn inside her brake even more, if that was possible, " And I'll say it as much as you need too. " she grinned as she then asked Eric about his time in his new home. If his father was messing with him still ( " _N-no, he l-leaves me a-alone for the most part now... "_ ), if he had made any friends ( " _y-yeah! the J-Jim twins are weird a-and a little l-loud but their n-nice_ " ), and if he was happy ( _He was, he was very happy here._ ). Evelyn was pleased and happy Eric was making friends and happy, she opened her mouth to ask another question but then there was a knock on the door and it opened not even a second later.

 

Eric and Evelyn made eye contact and nodded, Evelyn's message loud and clear in both of their minds.

 

_I'll hide and we'll regroup later_

 

And just like that Eric's mirror went back to reflecting Eric and his room with no Evelyn or flowers in sight. Just in time too, as an ego dressed in a suit and glasses walked with. It was Bim the TV show host, he looked at the nervous ego with a confused look on his face. " Eric, were you talking with anyone? " he asked as he looked around the room before he circled back to the man in question as he sat in front of his large mirror. Eric shook his head " N-no, is t-there something y-you need? " Bim nodded as he answered " Yes! The Jims' were asking for your help. I'm not quite sure what they need help with but they were asking for you. ". Eric nodded as stood up with a slight wince from the pinching of his prosthetics before he said thank you to Bim and walked to the Jims' room to help them.

 

As Erics' figure disappeared down the hall, Bim looked around the egos' room once more with a confused look. " I was sure I heard him talking with someone... " before he shrugged and look at his watch and saw he had a few minutes before he was on. As he walked to the studio he couldn't help but think of one thing before he went live.

 

**_' Why did Dark ask to keep an eye on Eric? '_ **

 

* * *

 

 

I raced through the mirrors or reflective surfaces of this unfamiliar place, looking for somewhere I could hide or just look around and see where my Eric lived. ' Man this place is nice looking ' I thought as I took in the dark wooden floors, eggshell-colored walls and so on. I couldn't help but admire it all, the manor was large but it wasn't over the top.

 

It didn't have a large number of chandeliers, there wasn't any sculpting on the walls, no expensive-looking art pieces ( unique and beautiful yes but not anything that screamed ' I paid 100,000 for this ' ). It was simple yet elegant but still holding a feeling of professionalism yet casualty that I didn't think was possible. I pressed my hands on the glass of a large hanging mirror as I looked up and around the hall I was currently in. This hall had the same dark flooring but the walls were light pink with a canary yellow, not something I thought I would see but who was I to judge? I soon heard the steps of someone and dashed behind the frame of the mirror, my flowery environment disappearing as soon as I was out of frame.

 

The first thing I thought of was his pink mustache and hair and how familiar he looked to me. It wasn't like Eric where he just had a facial resemblance, he truly **LOOKED** like someone I knew. My face scrunched up as I tried to remember to who I knew other than Damien, it was only when I heard this man speak and heard the way he spoke was then I remembered.

 

" now~ where is Darkimoo~? "

 

I knew this voice- the way it was accented and the way it drawled out. I couldn't help but think of a man that also had a mustache. The longer I looked at him the more and more I saw the military man I saw that day, he looked different but it was still _him_. He was in that pale yellow shirt I remember him in and with pink splendors instead if the bright red. I couldn't help but whisper out with a shaky and painful voice.

 

" ̸̧̢̰̼̩̄̉͋̊̍C̶̜̏̈́͌̈́̽͠ơ̶͔͉̩͖̜̣͓̌̎ͅͅl̴̡͙͙̜̠͈̤̣̺͖̒̿̀́̄̓͛̋̕͠ơ̴̟̩̼̖̱̋̍̍̋̾͐̅͝ṋ̷̣̬͔͎̃͒͆̕̚͠͝͝ͅē̷̦̘̤̾́̍̇̚͠ļ̸̰͕͑́̏ ̶̨̡̩͎͈͇͚̲̟͗̊͋́̍̚ī̵̛͍̀̆̐̽́͝ŝ̶̩͉̥̍̅̎͑̓͊͠ ̵̛̰̈̍̆̑̚t̶̡̧̩̜̲̣̗͓́͆̔́̀̾̇̐̚͠h̸̢̬̮͔̻͚̬̥͆͌̂́̒̈́̓͛̕ͅă̷̠t̵͙͕͕̝͎̥̭̞̘̀ ̸̼̱̲̐͒̑̕͘y̵̨͉͔̩̋̈̈̿̃͂͝ͅǫ̵̮̪͖̬̞̩̗̖̈́͆͆̕͜ṵ̷̡̟͙̝̜͓̘͛͋̈́̃̔͌̏̂̑̚?̴̥̰̞̱͖̩̝̱̩̹͊̌ "

 

He whipped he head around and looked at the mirror I was in as if he knew I was in there. " Hello? is anyone there? " he asked as he looked around, searching before he got this angry look on his face. " Whoever out there better come out now! Cuz- " he reached behind him and into his pants " Wilford motherloving Warfstache don't take shit from nobody! ". He pulled out a gun, the same silver revolver from the night he shot me, my built wound ached and pulsed like a heartbeat at the mere sight of it. I shook my head as I looked as he passed the mirror again and crouched like a child looking for their toy.

 

' I thought his name was William? and his last name was Barnum? ' I thought as I smiled, it was good to see the Colonel alive and... _well_. I knew I should be afraid of the man that shot me on accident but it was hard to as I watched him look around like a chicken without a head for me. As I continued to watch him from the edge of the frame I couldn't help but think the name ' Warfstache ' was familiar but from where? Soon the Colonel gives up and walks away to head to where ever he was going that it hit me.

 

' The poker night! '

 

* * *

 

 

_" Oh, Damien really? you wanted to be a prince when you were younger? " the Colonel asked with his face pink from the alcohol as he grilled Damien, whos' face a bright red from the drinks and his embarrassment. Damien half-heartedly swatted the Colonel in his embarrassment as if to defend his honor and dignity._

 

_( If he was, he was doing a poor job )_

 

_" Oh shut up Will! What did you want to be dear? " He asked me as the Colonel laughed at him once more, I blinked in surprise at being put on the spot. The Colonel also turned is attention on me as well with a grin on his face, " Yes, yes Bully! What did you *_ **_HIC_ ** _* want to be when you were younger? "_

 

_" Me? wow, really dragging me with you huh? " I said as I looked at Damien with a smirk, I knew why he was doing this. He wanted both of his friends to know each other and to take the attached off of him, you'd think after becoming the Mayor he'd except it. He didn't._

 

_" Just answer the question! " Damien said as he poked me lightly but still got a giggle out of me, I rolled my eyes before I answered._

 

_" Okay! Okay! I wanted to be an artist or a writer. " I sighed, and I still do. But I'm doing something that will help my city- my home and that's good enough for me._

 

_" Really? I never know.. " Damien looked sad as he said that, ' There's a lot you don't know about me... ' I think as I look at him with soft eyes._

 

_" Yeah... well. What about you Colonel? " I redirect the question the man on my left, he jumped at the sudden mood change but answered anyway. He took another sip of his drink before he answered._

 

_" I wanted to be a news reporter or even a journalist! I even had a stage name! " he said as he waved his hands around, spilling his drink a little. " Oh? Really, what would have been your stage name? " I asked as I hand the Colonel my handkerchief, he laughed a little " I know it a little stupid, but I never really finished it. I only got the first name down, Wilford. "_

 

_I thought long and hard about that name, Damien and Colonel talking about something I couldn't hear at the time. I closed my eyes and bounced my leg as I thought more and more. I snapped my eyes open as I shouted " AH HA! " the two men jumped and looked at me as if I grew another head. " I got it! " they shot each other looks before Damien asked " Got what? " I looked at him like he was dumb._

 

_" The Colonel's last name for his stage name! " I said as if it was the most obvious thing, I didn't give them any time to react as I said and waved my hands._

 

_" Wilford_   _Warfstache! "_

 

_They look at me before the Colonel said " Wilford Warfstache the journalist... not bad " then he sighed " But I gave up on that stupid dream years ago- "_

 

_"_ **_HEY_ ** _! " I looked at him, " Just because you gave it up, doesn't mean that you have to let it die! " I look him in the eyes. I took a sip at my drink before I gave him a big smile " Besides I think it'd be a great idea! "_

 

* * *

 

 

I smiled again before I felt Eric familiar tug as he called me, " Nice to see you okay... **old friend**. " then I blinked and I was back in Eric's room. Soon I and Eric were back talking and I had asked him what Wilford Warfstache did, looks like he did his childhood dream. Soon we were watching funny videos and just getting back in our rhythm. As I watched Eric coo over small kittens I thought about one thing with a smile ' Looks like he took me up on the name. '

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you for reading this chapter and hope you liked it. Remember if you have any questions comment them billow and I'll answer them if i can and as fast as I can. Oh! thought I should mention I do have a tumbler account where I post art pieces based on this book and future book ideas, if you want a better idea if what Evelyn looks like any update I may put. Please consider following this link! https://www.tumblr.com/blog/latenightsleeper


	11. Chapter 11: Sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in a place of ice, snow and wind something is glowing

 

 

In the void of the manor, we see Evelyn sitting in her flower field and making flower crown that would only she would see. Taking the white flowers and weaving them into each other, she feels the wind brush her hair. Evelyn looks up and takes in all of the beauty around her, her new place of rest was a sight but it didn't take away from the fact that. She was still alone. _Traped. Encased. Jailed_. In the manor that ruined her life and the lives of those she cared for, she sighed and put down her ninth crown.

 

She stood up and stretched before she looked around her. Evelyn began walking around her field and began grabbing flowers then throwing them in the air with closed eyes, she felt the flowers and petals twirl around her before being cared off by the wind. But when she opened her eyes she saw the petals she thought had been carried off were still twirling around her and circling her as if to tell her something. It was a shock. The minute she saw they were still there they began to make a trail- leading her away from her spot. Evelyn had nothing to do, Eric had to work today as she had checked in earlier and... she was _curious_ , to be honest.

 

' ... This goes against literally EVERYTHING I have ever known or been taught. ' Evelyn thought as she began to follow the trail with some hesitance. In the beginning, Evelyn saw no difference with her terrain but as time went on and she kept on walking. The flowers she had grown accustomed too and liked, began to lessen in number before completely vanishing and returning her to the blank void she had known. She felt chills run up her spine as she had never been this far from her mirror and that she could hear the groans and whisper of those before her. The sounds of the damned souls around went from just soft cries, people asking where another was or why they did what they did, or just sounds of pain and whimpers.

 

Its was depressing and dis hearting to know that she, as the only conscious soul, this could have been _her_ and that she couldn't **help**.

 

One of the main reasons that Evelyn become a District Attorney, was to help those who couldn't help themselves and to help her home. Evelyn was from a middle-class family, but they were _barely_ even that, and her family were immigrants. She knew what people that weren't upper class like Damien or Mark faced many problems. Evelyn wanted to change that, so kids like her wouldn't have to watch their family- their parents work themselves to sickness just to make ends meet. To be discrimination, hated and thought to be lesser than just because of their the color of their skin, their gender and who they were. Evelyn wanted to **HELP** people so much it hurt to see all of these souls and not be able to do _anything_ to soothe their pain.

 

**_" you made this place... "_ **

 

Evelyn immediately snapped out of her haze and saw that the trail of flowers had disappeared, leaving her in the void that rang and made her skin crawl. The voice that she had heard was but a whisper and distorted but it was familiar in a way she couldn't wrap her head around.

 

**_" for broken things... "_ **

 

' What? ' Evelyn thought as the area around her began to ring and echo with static. " w-what in the world... " she whispered as she looked around, her body trembling with fear. She was confused about what she was hearing, who was talking and what they meant. Evelyn kept on walking with shaky feet, the air around her seemed to get even colder.

 

It was like she was in the artic when she quickly saw something, a light burning a bright _red_. It was faint but it was easy to see in the black around her, hell she was glowing a light purple. As she kept on walking, the ringing of static began growing even louder. So much louder that it made her head hurt. The red light soon grew in brightness that in blinded her. ' What even is this? where even am I? ' Evelyn thought as to when the light faded she was surprised to see she was in a new place.

 

The wind was screaming and bit into her clothing like blades, it was cold and there was nothing but snow and woods around her to see. "... **fuck** " she said before seeing the light and began to start to follow it, she had come this far might as well as see it throw. Her breath was an icy white fog and she shook from the cold, arms wrapped around herself as if to keep her warm. Soon she came to a cabin in a clearing, the windows were frosted over but it did nothing to dim the bright red light that had brought her here. Evelyn walked to the door and knocked softly and worried if anyone was here or if they heard her over the wind her chattering teeth. Soon she just opened the door was once again saw nothing but red light, Evelyn heard the voice and static again speck before the light calmed down and disappeared she was shocked to her very core.

 

**_" go back to sleep... "_ **

 

The cabin was bear with nothing but a table, chair, and bed near the fireplace that was the first thing you saw when you open the door. It glowed a warm orange thanks to the fireplace. It was normal and only for a short stay at best but it wasn't the cabin itself that shocked her. It was _WHO_ she saw, on the bed dressed in the dress she had first saw her in and looking tired was the seer.

 

" _Celine_?... " Evelyn said as she looked at the woman that started it all, the wind grew louder as she kept on looking at the seer that glowed a soft red.

 

' What the hell is going on? '

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! sorry for not updating sooner and for this chapter being pretty short. Anyway hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you have anything to say or ask and I'll try to answer it as fast as I can! See ya!


	12. Chapter 12: Flower talks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> from a place of ice and snow to a place of fields and hills we go!

 

 

The wind howled and hit me with the cold as I stood in front of the open door, h-how was this possible? I looked at this woman that glowed red like she was a ghost- a monster that came from the dark to strick me down. I walked in slowly so I wouldn't wake her and closed the door behind me so the hot air wouldn't get out, was this her or some trick played by the manor?

 

I sat down by the fire and by proxy; Celine. I swallowed at being in close proximity to the women the broke one of my best friends _heart_ , Mark, and chose to look into the flames with interest. Why was I brought here? Why was it _ME_? I didn't know her like Mark, The Colonel, or Damien. I was a _stranger_ , and an **outsider** in her life. What right did I have to be here other than I knew her ex-husband and brother? I rubbed my hands and faced them towards th fire as I continued to think, I looked at her with my white and tear filed eyes before I reached for her. She looked as if she was dead, though I had no right to say anything, and was pale, her face looked relaxed but as I looked closer I saw slight wrinkles and the slight pull of her muscles.

 

I crawled closer and got on my knees as I put my hand in her forehead, I hissed at the icy temperature of her skin. It was colder than it was outside, colder than _ice_. I looked at her and saw she was talking slow and _extremely_ shallow breaths, hell if I didn't know any better I would have thought she was _dead_. I looked at the fireplace behind me and looked at Celine before I made my move, I quickly but carefully but my arms under her legs and neck, shivering from how cold she was, blanket and all as I place her in front of the fire. I frowned at her limp and pale form, I didn't know her and she may have thought of me as something to use but Damien cared about her and I wasn't _that_ heartless.

 

I looked at the flames and saw they were diming slightly, I looked around to see if there was any wood before I decided to look out the window, as I thought it wouldn't be nice if I broke her chair and table, and saw a large stack of logs on the side. I looked at Celine once again before I walked towards the door, she wasn't the only one who needed to be kept warm now.

 

I opened the door and got hot with wind and snow, I quickly closed the door behind me as to not make Celine any colder. ' The things I do for people... ' I sigh as I walk towards the stack fo logs and grasped an arm full. I look at all the wood in my arms then looked at the way back towards the door, It wasn't very far maybe a minute and a half walk but with the wind and snow slowing me down? It would take longer than expected.

 

* * *

 

 

As Evelyn walked slowly as to not fall or drop any wood, the figure of the Seer shifted and moved for the first time. Tossing and turning before slowly and then blinking her eyes and saw the fire, Celine looked and saw she was on the floor with a blanket around her.

 

She sat up as she saw she wasn't in the water and ice from before, Celine was in the cabin that she made for Damien. The sound of footsteps and shifting snow alerted she wasn't alone, ' Damien? ' the seer thought as she sat up and looked at the door. The wooden door open but it wasn't the figure of her baby twin brother, this one was dressed in a white tucked in shirt with black slack and dress shoes. The white shirt had a bloodstain in the stomach area, Celine stayed quiet as this was happening. Not wanting to alert this stranger that she was awake and have the jump on then if things got hostile.

 

When the figure dropped the logs in their arms as they closed the door with their foot Celine sucked in a sharp breathe, it was the DA. She almost screamed when she saw the DA's eyes were a blank white with no pupils but a stark white. The Da's eyes themselves widened before awkwardly waving as if to try and defuse the situation. " D-DA??... " Celine asked as she watched her walk over to the fire and throw in two logs, DA then sat down a little farther from the Seer but nodded.

 

The DA was very much different from the last time she had seen her, DA's face, hands, and neck have shattered glass like patterns, eyes blank white, tears that never seemed to stop, and having dark circles, mouth, and nose having blood coming out, and her stomach having the built wound William gave them.

 

Both women sat in silence just soaking gin the warmth of the fire before the Seer tuned to the DA, " How did you get here and why are you here? " the DA looked her before shrugging. She had no idea on why she was here but she was and that was that.

 

" What do you mean- " Celine inmates her " - you don't know? " DA gives her a blank look that says ' _Do you really want me to answer that?_ ' Celine sighs as she leaves the topic alone. The DA stands suddenly and walks over to the Seer and put her hand on her forehead, Celine looks at the DA in surprise but stays quiet. DA puts on a thinking face and keeps her hand on her forehead before nodding, Celine had warmed up. The Seer looked at the DA and asked " What was that for? " as she put her hand on her head to feel for something, DA was back to sitting on the floor but was closer this time.

 

DA put her hand on the floor and closed her eyes, < When I first came here you cold as ice, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. >. Celine look at her with confusion, she never had any once care for her that wasn't Damien. Even their parents didn't really care about her, William cared too but never on this level. So having this stranger care, a stranger she used was... new.

 

" ...thank you," she said softly, the DA beamed at her and nodded.

 

" DA... " Celine said breaking the silence, said person looks at the women dressed in black with a head tilt. " W- why... aren't you doing anything? " she said as the DA made a noise of confusion, the Seer looked at the white-eyed girl with a sad and remorseful look. " I-I _used_ you! And then I _accused_ you of **killing** Mark! " she yelled, DA jolted in surprise from the mood change " You should be **ANGRY**! You should be **FURIOUS**! YOU SHOULD- " she stops as the DA flings herself at Celine.

 

Celine closes her eyes waiting for a punch or hit but instead felt a warm embrace of another, she opens her eyes to see the DA holding her in a firm but gentle hug. Celine couldn't understand _why,_ why DA wasn't kicking and screaming, why she wasn't demanding blood. Why the DA wasn't reacting the same way _she did_ when she was betrayed.

 

The DA stands but grabs Celine's hand and walked towards the door, " What?- " was the only words she got out before DA opened the door and they both got hit in the face with freezing air. " DA WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?! " Celine yelled as the DA pulled her along as she walked throw the snow, her black dress whipped around in the harsh wing and her bare legs felt numb from the snow as they marched on.

 

DA didn't reply and only looked back once or twice to make sure Celine was still there despite having her hand in a tight grip, they walked for what felt forever and Celine feels her teeth hit each other as she shook from the cold. Looked at the DA again as they kept on moving and opened her mouth " DA where are we going!?! " she said as she saw no change as to where they were. DA made a humming sound that Celine could bearly hear over the wind, to the Seer it looked and felt like they were just walking but to the DA they were looking for the place she was when she first came here.

 

The DA stop in what looked like a small clearing, she looked around as Celine looks at her with a confused face. The Seer looker over the DA's head, as she was 5'07-5'10 with the heels and DA was 5'00, and saw nothing new but was pulled out of her looking as DA once again started to walk once more. They were suddenly engulfed by a purple light and they stood in a black void, the DA made a huff of accomplishment before letting go of Celine's hand and made a ' follow me ' jester.

 

* * *

 

 

I looked at Celine as I made a ' follow me ' motion, she sighed " Okay... " I smiled at her and shook off the snow off of me and wiped her shoulder. I gave her thumbs before I started to walk back, the area I was in still gave me chills but I couldn't do anything about that so I just kept one walking. I looked back to see Celine and make sure she didn't get lost, she just was looking around the void and jumped a little at the whispers. My eyes softened with understanding, it was unsettling and I was still getting used to it. still, Celine was glowing the same bright red as when first saw her in the void, I was glowing a soft purple that made it easier to follow me and not get lost.

 

" DA... you didn't answer my question... " I looked at Celine as she talked, " why aren't you angry with me? " she looked at me with confused eyes. " You have every right, it doesn't make any sense! Why are you helping me? " Celine continued as we kept on walking. I sighed before I made words appear in front of her <Being angry doesn't change what happened to me, and I _was_ angry. I was angry for a very long time. > I look to the left as I closed my eyes and remembered the screaming and cursing I did during that time. I shook my head and looked down at my feet and stopped walking, < Being angry can only do so much and it can't fix what was done. And it can't heal my hurt, it only intensifies it. > I look back at her as she reads my words. I see understanding in her eyes as she looks at the next batch of words.

 

< It doesn't help anyone, it just hurts us even more. >

 

I feel something beneath my feet and see the flower petal from before, we walk more before we make it to my field of flowers. Celine gasps with awe as she looks at all the flowers, hills, sees the blue sky and feels the warmth and cool wind.

 

< And I don't want to hurt anymore, so I let go. I'm moving on, and that's all that matters. >, I pull her hands and run to my spot in front of the mirror. I laugh as I let go and brush all the flowers as petals burst into the air and the wind flows softly around us, I see the broken mirror I had known for all these years and see the flower crowns as I sit. Celine looks around still and touches the flowers with soft, daft hands. She looks at me and moves to sit next to me as she talks again, this time softer as she looks at the beauty around us and watches some butterflies flutter.

 

< And I know for a fact, you want to move on too. > I make the words show, she reads them with pain-filled eyes and shuts her eyes with a frown. Celine looked so small and frail right now, she looked nothing like the strong and assertive women I saw that day. She looked... _broken_. I wanted to help her, I really did, but that was her fight. I can only do so much, the rest is up to her. " I-I do, I _want_ to move one. I just don't know _how,_ " she whispers to me as she clutches her dress in her hands, I understood what she meant. Celine was a prideful and hard-headed woman, she held grudges, didn't know how to ask for help, and was used to being in some form of control.

 

I grab her and look at her in the eyes, I would help her if she answered one question. Something that has been haunting me for days on end and what I couldn't understand.

 

" W-why? " I asked her as I looked at Celine with a frown, why? Why did she break my shooting star's heart, what was her reason? What had he done to deserve such a broken heart that he looked to _demon houses_ for closure? I _wanted_ to know- I **_NEED_** to know. Celine looked startled that I had spoken, that I had a voice and that it sounded so clear. " What...? " I stared at her with sad eyes and asked again " Why did you break Mark's heart? What did he do? " I see her shake as I continue " What did you do? ".

 

**" What happened to your guys' love for each other? "**

 

Celine is curled into herself as she shakes with grief, " I-I don't know... I honestly don't know... " and that was all I needed to know. What happened to them was what could have happened to anyone, they just grew apart with time. They loved each other so strongly and with so much passion, that their fires went out. Mark was overworking himself and not making any time for Celine, Celine was a drifter by nature and saw what she wanted and did what she wanted without a thought. It was both their faults and nether of their faults, they were just destined to fall apart. It was just how they fell apart was the real difference, Celine cheated on Mark with William. That's not a lie or bias, it happened and she did it. Maybe she loves William or he was just a fling, who knows.

 

I stared at her with understanding eyes, " I think you do know, you just don't know how to say it. " I say as she looks at me. " I know you both loved each other once upon a time, but that was a long time ago. " I pick up one of the nine flower crowns with daft hands. I look at before I look at her, " You guys just... fell out of love, be it by Mark's hands or yous' who knows. ".

 

I clench my hand around the crown as my hands shake with emotion, " But you broke his heart so much and so _badly_ , that he took refuge from a **demon** to deal with it. " I uttered. Celine is looking at me with pain-filled eyes as she comes to realize, I loved Mark so much and it hurt me to be with the women that shattered his heart to smithereens. I may have not loved Mark as I loved Damien, but I cared for him all the same. " I just want to know o-one thing... " I look into her eyes, " Y-yes... " shes crying as realize what she's done to my boy.

 

" **_Are you sorry?_** "

 

Celine looks at the crown in my hands before she looks at her left hand, where her wedding ring was. She closes that hand and brings it close to her heart and meets my eyes with clear tearful eyes. " I'm sorry for braking Marks heart in such a way and for letting our love die- " she bites her lip " - but I'm not sorry for finding new love and trying to move one. I'm sorry for hurting Mark, DA. I truly am. ". I look at Celine blankly for what feels like years but for I smile, I raise my right hand and take off her little hat and place my flower crown ( That mostly comprised of purple flowers than white ).

 

" Please, my friends call me Evelyn. "

 

Celine gives me a watery smile and hugs me, she may have broken my shooting star's heat. But it was time to move on and forgive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this explains Evelyn's relations with Mark, she knows what he did was wrong but she still cares from him and he was used. It doesn't excuse what he did but he was used, also hope you like Evelyn and Celine's interaction. Celine is hard to write for as not only is she a hard person to write for but I also kinda dislike her? IDK, anyway y'all know the drill by this point! question, comment, and concerns go in the comments and I'll answer as fast as I can, when I can! Thank you for reading!


	13. Chapter 13:  I have questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has a breaking point, what happens when you reach it though?

 

I look into the pocket mirror with tired eyes, I didn't get any sleep. Dad had been hounding me to get these lines for a thing, the reason? All of the egos would be part of it, Markiplier T.V I think Mr. Willford called it, and I spent all night trying to memorize the lines and not to stutter. It... didn't work, I sigh before closing the mirror. He was going to yell at me anyways, who knows? Maybe it'll be my lucky day and I'll be okay. I looked at the clock and saw it was 6:30 AM and decided it was time to have breakfast, I sat up and did my normal routine. 

 

I look up at the bathroom mirror and close my eyes, thinking of Evelyn and wanting her comfort or presence. I hear a tap and see her field of flowers and Evelyn smiling at me, she waves <  Hi, baby! What's the game plan for today?   >. Evelyn may have gotten the ability to talk but she was more comfortable with ' talking ' like this, I liked it too, made anything she actually said more meaningful. " I-I have a c-commercial for a b-big thing today... " I say as I move to slightly sit on the counter, " and I-I'm feeling a b-bit ummmm... " I trail off as I look at Evelyn. She smiles at me and says <  Unsure?  > I nod " Y-yeah... it's j-just that d-dad's going to be there and s-so is everyone! I just d-don't want t-to mess everything u-up. " 

 

She sighs before she says <  and you won't, Eric you're a hard worker and if you do mess up? It's okay, you're amazing.   > I smile at the words before I say " R-right! ", Evelyn looks pleased before she says <  Now go eat breakfast, you need your energy ! > she waves her finger in a teasing manner. I gigged as I nod, I wave and head outside the bathroom to the stairs. I see everyone is already downstairs and eating, everyone greats me, with the exception Mr. Dark as he's not here and my Dad, as I walk in the kitchen. I give everyone a shaky smile as I go and get my food from Even ( Cheifipile), I see my Dad in the corner of my eye as I sit next to the Jims'. He's completely blank as he eats and doesn't even acknowledge my presence in the room, I turn my eyes to my food and eat numbly. 

 

I know what he's doing to me is wrong and that I don't deserve to be treated like that but I can't help but hope that maybe he'll change. I take the last bite of my bacon and eggs then down my orange juice, I pick up my dished and go to bring them to the sink to wash them. Mr. Bim beats me to it as he grabs mine and his then rushes to wash them, I jump at the fast act " A-ah! Mr. Bim I-I'll do i-it! " I say as I walk over to the sink. Almost everyone had gone back to their rooms to get ready as it was only me and Mr. Bim, he chuckled as he looked at me from the corner of his eye. " It's fine Eric, besides you're always doing things without getting told so I thought I'd give you a break. " Mr. Bim said with a smile, he was right I did do a lot of things without being told " Plus, I think you should go get ready for your part of the pilot. " I look at the clock and see he's right. 

 

I look at him and clock for a few more seconds before I nodded and rush upstairs with a rushed " Thank you! ". I quickly put on my clothing and put my sleeping cloths in the basket near my closet. I look at my lines again as I put them in my back pocket and walk towards the studio, where it would be me and my Dad...  _ALONE_ . This would be the first time since we first moved in here about half a year ago that we would be alone with each other, I think the other had a feeling that something wasn't  _right_  with me and Dad. With how I would stutter more, shake, and how my eyes would dart around the room and how dad would go stone-faced around me, dropping the charismatic act a little and speak with me in short, cold sentences. 

 

' No use stalling the inevitable ' I think as I walk, I see a mirror in the hall and I think of Evelyn. I smile as I think of her words of encouragement.

 

" I c-can do this! " I whisper to myself. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

' I can't do this! I can't do this! I can't do this! I can't do this! **I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T DO THIS! I CAN'T DO THIS!** ' I think as I shake and look at dad with fearful eyes as he yells- no screams at me. 

 

I messed up, I messed up my lines and it was like it was I was alone all over again. No Jims', no Mr. Bim, no one, no happy talks in the bathroom or my room, no  _Evelyn_.

 

No, mom.

 

I was 16 again and I told dad I wanted to be a farmer and- and I got yelled at, told my dream- my  ** _passion_ **  was stupid and that it would never happen. I was in that empty house that used to be a  _home_ , that used to be a happy place and was filled with love. A house that held dust-filled rooms, broken hearts, shattered picture frames, and smashed beer bottles. It wasn't a home anymore, it was a prison. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, I couldn't even blink.

 

I was paralyzed with fear and that maybe- just _maybe_  if I stayed still and said nothing he would leave me alone. But as he yelled and hollered I couldn't help but feel something in me  _grow_. 

 

I was so  _hurt_  and  **confused** , what had I done to get these lashings? To be yelled and degraded by my Dad, my parent that promised to love and protect me? I felt so  **powerless** and rejected by my own blood. I felt my heart beat faster, my hands squeezed as I tried to hear what he was saying but it was so hard, it was like I was fading in and out of and I could only hear bits and pieces. My mouth felt dry but it felt different from the other times, I could only stare at dad with tear-filled eyes.

 

"  **WHAT DID I TELL YOU!**  "

 

" - **FUCK UP** \- "

 

"  **WHY ARE YOU EVEN ALIVE?!?!**  "

 

"  **YOUR**   **MOTHER- BE- DISAPPOINTED!**  " 

 

That's when I felt something in me burst and all I could feel was a heat of some sort, every inch of my skin felt white-hot and all I could feel was my heartbeat as it pounded. I could feel it in my fingertips and the tips of my ears, I could even feel it in my teeth and behind my eyes as my tears finally fell.

 

"  **_SHUT UP!_ ** " I yell for the first time in my  _whole life_. I've never yelled, never screamed. I was the quiet child, I whispered and mumbled no matter who you were, I was like the wind, always quiet but always there. " W-what...? " Dad said as he looks at me with shock, I bared my teeth as I yelled again with a fury I have never felt coursed throw my veins. 

 

" **SHUT UP! SHUT UP!** " I scream as I walk closer to him, " Mom said I was  _perfect_  just the way I am! ". I stood a few feet before him now, standing at my full height of 6'6 to his 5'7. His eyed harden at the mention of her, she was practically a taboo topic if she wasn't used to hurting me.

 

" She  ** _lied_ **to you. " 

 

I stared at him with wide eyes and then I was pulled in to my memories of her, of  **Mom**.

 

Warm light brown eyes that always held love, light tan skin, warm hands as she held my hands or face, her long copper brown hair always pulled into a side ponytail with orange bead hair ties, her mouth that was always pulled in a smile even when she was sad, her putting me on shoulder so I could be taller, her warmth. Her familiar scent of oranges and her rose perfume, her bright red cherry earrings, her voice and my nickname she called me.

 

" **Honey bee** \- "

 

Suddenly she changed, Her tall amazonian figure turned short and petite, long brown hair became short and black. Her green shirt and blue, floral printed skirt become a white shirt and black slakes, her eyes turned blank white with tears and bags under them, light tan skin turned darker with cracks. Mom turned into Evelyn and she called out to me with her faint voice and nickname for me.

 

" _Baby-_  "

 

I heard both of their voices mingled and mixed where I didn't know where one ended or the other began, their voices filled with so much love and care that I could cry.

 

"  **_-you're perfect just the way you are and I'll always love you for that._ ** "

 

Next thing I knew I was raising my right hand in a fist and I-I  _punched_ my Dad in the face so hard I sent him flying to the floor. I looked at him with a horrified face before I bolted for the door and throw it open, I barely realized the slight crowd that was around it as I ran to the living room. When I made it there I saw that Mr. Bim, Mr. Willford, Mr. Dark and that Googles were sitting on the big couch, they looked and stood up when they saw how scared and out of breath I was. " Eric, my boy! Whats got you all up and in a frenzy? " asked Mr. Willford as he walked to me, I tried to answer him but I was interrupted by a yell I knew all too well. It echoed off the walls and shook me to the bones as I felt bile climb up my throat, I whipped around as I see my Dad come around the corner.

 

 **"**   **ERIC DEREKSON! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?! "**

 

" F-fuck... " I whisper as we make eye contact and I see the punch I handed on his face is already starting to bruise, I see a promise of pain and suffering in those eyes as he stocks closer to me. His face is red with anger and I see a vein on his forehead and it looks ready to pop. " What the  **FUCK**  was that! " Dad demanded as he stood before me waiting for an answer, Mr. Bim looked at Dad and me before he asked Dad " Derek, what happened to you? ". Dads' eyes darted to him as he pointed to me and said loudly " That brat fucking  _punched_  me! That's what happened to me! ", I curled into myself in shame. I was never one for violence and after what had happened to me? I practically hated it, but in that room with Dad yelling at me bringing up mom? I-I just reacted without thinking and here I was with the aftermath of it.

 

" Who do you think you are?!? " Dad asked me with a snarl, I felt the same fire under my skin light again and replied without thinking. 

 

" Who am I? Who the **fuck** do  _Y_ _OU_   think you are! " 

 

I felt everyone around me freeze, shocked the I spoke so clearly and that I cursed, but I didn't care about them. No, not one bit, I wanted his answer. I wanted to know who he thought he was to me. Dad was surprised at me shooting back his question at him but answered anyway with some hesitation.

 

" I am your  _Fathe_ \- "

 

"  **No**! No, you're not! You are not the man my Mom loved and married! " I cut him off, I was so tired of this crap. Dad looked absolutely furious at what I had said about him, his face was a thunder cloud as I saw him shake with rage before he yelled.

 

" Do **NOT** bring your Mother in this you brat! " 

 

I look at him in disgust before I yell at him with tears and sweat streaming down my face, my voice and what I had to say causing everyone to look at me with astonishment and take a few steps back as I walked a few steps towards him.

 

"  _SHUT UP_ ! SHUT THE **FUCK**  UP! SHE MAY HAVE BEEN YOUR  _WIFE_ , YOUR  _WORLD_ ! B-BUT SHE WAS MY **MOM** ! MY  _EVERYTHING_! AND SHE WOULD BE SO DISGUSTED BY WHAT YOU HAVE TURNED IN TO! "

 

I saw a look on his face and that he was about to open his mouth but I started to talk before he could do anything. 

 

" **NO** !  _no no no no no_ ! You don't get a turn, I have been listing to your  **BULLSHIT**  my  _whole_  life. It's _m-my_  turn to talk, old man. " I look into his eyes head-on as I say this with hard eyes, I felt nothing but absolute  **hurt**  and  _hate_. 

 

" I just  _have_ to ask, what happened to the man I called my dad? The man I used to call my hero? " I poke his chest as I walk even closer to him, I want answers! I need answers, after the hell he put me through I deserve some. 

 

" I have questions for you! What happened to the man that used to hug me?- " I stand still and tall as I continue " - used to say I love you and mean it? what happened to my  **_Dad_ ** ? " my voice cracks at the end of that one. What happened to him, what happened to my rock? The man I thought was better than Superman or any other superhero because my Dad was my personal hero that worked around the clock. " What happened to the Dad that would always say he was **proud**  of me? " I wipe my tears away before I hardened my stare and continued. 

 

" Because I know for a  _fact_  he is in there somewhere! Somewhere in that empty cavity, you call a heart. I know he's _there_ ! Or at the very least the  **body**  of him! " I thrust my finger forward and hit his chest hard. " I am far too young to be this  _hurt_  and broken! And I am trying to make sense of all the  **wounds**  and  **scars** _you_  gave me and  _numb_  myself to them as well! " I'm crying as I remember every insult yelled at me, every bottle thrown at me as I stood unscathed but scared and full of fear of even breathing.

 

"  **WHY DON'T YOU CARE!?!** I love and care for you, I just can't say the same thing for you! " tears are running down my face but I don't even try to stop them as I opt to grab Dads' shirt and lift him to my face. " I gave you EVERYTHING! My blood, my sweat, my heart, and my tears! Why? Why! " I shake him slightly.

 

" I was there when NO ONE was!- " I drop him on the floor as I look at him " I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you **I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YO-**  " I'm pushed to the ground and my face is turned sideways as a loud slap rings through the air. Then another and another and another and another then it turns into punches and I can hear the rushing of feet to get Dad off of me. 

 

They got him off of me for a few seconds before he broke them off and starts to beat me while yelling "  **SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP-**  ". I put my arms up to protect my face and curl up to lessen the area for attack, they manage to get him restrained but I didn't know. All I knew was I wanted my Mom, I wanted Evelyn.

 

 

I want **Mom**

 

I want _Evelyn_

 

I want  **Mom**

 

I want  _Evelyn_

 

I want  **Mom**

 

I see their figure and faces switching between each other before it settles on one face that I really wanted. The one I wanted here  _now_.

 

I want _Evelyn_

  

I want  _Evelyn_

 

I want  _Evelyn_

 

I want  _Evelyn_

 

I want  _Mama_

 

 

* * *

 

 

As Eric lay on the wooden floor, Google Red and Google Yellow Derek as he thrashes and yells. He tries to get out to land another hit on his son or to run no one knows but they're not willing to rick either option.

 

Bim and Dr. Iplier make moves to get closer to Eric to check on him all while Yan is being held back by Google as they yell in Japanese. Before Dr. Iplier or Bim even touches Eric, Everyone hears a loud shattering of glass. All eye go to the large mirror in the living room, the mirror was simple and very big, large enough to take a mirror picture with three people. The only reason Dark had gotten the thing was because Willford had begged him to.

 

The mirror was facing Derek and the Googles, behind Erics' limp form. Everyone sucked in a sharp breath with what it showed now, the mirror no longer showed the living room and everyone in it. No, it showed an endless flower field with white and purple flowers as far as the eyes can see. But that wasn't the reason they were all shocked into silence, It was that they saw a figure. A hand on the broken mirror, the hand was attached to a young woman dressed in business casual. Her white shirt stained red. When she looked up and they saw her blank white eyes with tears falling from them.

 

The mirror shattered even more and the wounded woman landed on her hands and knees in the real world and man, she looked _ **pissed.**_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> But it looks like he's not the only one with one though.


	14. Chapter 14: A story told

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Welcom, please call me Sleeper.  
> ....  
> Do you know that everything has a story?  
> ...  
> Every rock, tree and person has a story. Especially the people, would you like to hear one? I mean, you're already reading one might as well right?  
> ...  
> You've heard echos, second hand stores of our tale- of this broken tale. Would you like to know the whole thing? Of course you don't have too but it's always nice to know right?  
> ...  
> Yes? Glorious! Let's get started!

 

Once upon a time, 

 

There were four children whos bonds were stronger than steel, two brothers of Pink and Burgundy with twin siblings of a Red sister and a Blue brother.

 

Oh, how they played and laughed with each other. How they made each other stronger and their trust in the others were unshaken. As time passed and the children turned to teens and then to adults, the brothers of Pink and Burgundy soon grew roses of love for the girl turned woman of Red.

 

Oh, how the woman of Red was, how wild and untamed she was, how she drew them in like moths to a flame. The brothers soon became rivals in their endeavor of love and lust, how they made fools of each other to please her.

 

The brother of Blue soon saw what was happening with the brothers and his sister, how his heart _ached_ for the man of Pink. How he cried when he saw what he could not have, how the man of Pink loved his fiery Red sister and her wild and free natured self. 

 

Soon a tragedy struck their home, a war was on the horizon. The man of Pink, always the hero, soon left his place at his friends' sides to fight for his home. How the man of Blue begged him to stay. 

 

" You will die out there! " He cried to the man of Pink.

 

" You will die and your body will not be found! I beg of you! " the Blue one pleaded the man of Pink, " I beg you to stay! Where it is safe, another can take your place! " he cried. 

 

The man of Pink replied " Then I will die old and a cowered. if I can not fight for my home- If I can not fight for those I care for. " He looked the Blue one in the eyes and finished " I am no man at all. " and then he left to the battlefield. 

 

Time passed and the one of Burgundy still courting the woman of Red with a heavy heart at the absence of his brother before she too left their home. Blue and Burgundy soon went to university with each other.

 

There they only had each other and their studies, Blue going with law and Burgundy going with acting. Both rising to the top without any problems but soon they meet a new person.

 

A maiden of Purple, how she walked up to the man of Blue with a smile in the library and then the one of Red in the courtyard. She was like a light and how she opened their eyes to the rest of the world, how she brought them joys they had not felt since their youths.

 

How she made the Blue one feel, how she healed his wounded heart and made it flutter and beat. How she made the brother of Red smile and laugh and stretch his wings, how she made him reach for the stars.

 

She thought them to be stars as they shined so brightly when near her, how she felt like the moon as she reflected their lights.

 

Time passed the three of them, the war had ended and the man of Burgundy and woman of Red had gotten married. How the man of Pink had come back home with scars and with a broken heart, how he drowned his sorrows into traveling the world.

 

The man of Burgundy had grown to stardom and how he had let the fame and glory go to his head, how he and his lover of Red had grown apart. How she had fled to the adventurer of Pink and how she had let him into her heart, how when her brother of Blue learned of it he was torn. 

 

When the Burgundy one learned of this betrayal he lashed out at everyone, even the maiden of Purple as she had not even an idea of it. How he locked himself away in him home, alone with the **darkness** that lurked in it.

 

The man of Blue soon turned to the one of Purple and she to him, how their hearts beat as one. Soon she pushed him to his dream and followed in his light as he became a leader of the people. How years passed after the splinter of the childhood friends- of the brothers that no longer talked and the twins that only spoke with paper and pens.

 

How the maiden of Purple stayed for Blue and sent letters to the one of Burgundy, how she kept her heart hidden under lock and key. In fear of getting it broken and hurting them both.

 

Then one day she had a letter arrived, inviting her to the home of the man of Burgundy. The joy she felt that day was great as she packed and readied herself, when she arrived she met the one of Pink at the door with a smile and warm cheeks. Oh, the fun she had that night! 

 

Robbing everyone blind at poker, the drinks and fun she had. 

 

But all good things must come to an end as the saying goes, one she learned the next day as the maiden of Purple found the man of Burgundy's body. 

 

_Cold_ and _devoid_ of life.

 

How everything went downhill from there, everyone was blaming each other and no one knew who to trust or where to start! The body of her dear friend had disappeared and then there was a gunfight between Pink and Rust. Then as if summoned the woman of Red appeared with a flash of light and accused the maiden of Purple of being the culprit before asking for her help.

 

She jumped at the chance of helping to end this nightmare and followed the Red one as the twin asked them to be careful. Soon she saw the night before and a small piece of the future, she felt sick and faint after what had happened but the one of Red went to push but was cut off by Blue and Rust.

 

When they went to see the old man from her vision and left the twins alone, the house was caught in a flash of light and the siblings of Red and Blue vanished. The man of Pink taken over by grief and anger went after the man of Rust. When the maiden of Purple tried to stop them but was too late to stop them, the man of Rust was shot and she was too.

 

The maiden of Purple then fell from the second floor to the first as the man of Pink reached to grab her and yelled " **IT WAS AN ACCIDENT** " but _missed_. She met her end and was greeted with the figures of the twins bathed in their Red and Blue light, the man of Blue asked for the Purple dames' trust.

 

And to  **Ļ̴͉͓̰̺̟̫͗̏̐̐͌̌̾͛ę̴̝̖̭̗͖͉̩̯͔͉͚̗́̉͗̅̂͘͜͠͝Ṭ̶̨̡̳̮͔̝̪̰̘̞̟̠̈́̂̎̑̆̄͑̿͂͑̎̿͝ ̸̨̨͖͙̫̹̼͍̂̿͗̄̓̎͑̈̿͆ͅt̴͈̯͉̙̖̫̽́̈́͒H̴͙̲̦̬̽̄͌͊͛͂͒̐̄̌e̶̞̋̉M̶̩̬̖͓̝̮̹̥͖̝͈̰̋̅͗̓͌̀̈̚͘ ̴̡͕̱͈͔̳̠̟͍͓̞̭̈́̀̓͋͊́̂̇̔̀͑̋̀̂͆i̸̖͒́͝Ņ̸̡̨̳͕͕̳͉̖͔̻͆̈́͑̾̀̍͛̈̑͋**

 

So she did and awoke to the rambling of a broken man of Pink, her heart ached as she watched him stumble and call for his friends. Her body then no longer felt like hers and saw her hand was not hers but the woman of Reds'. Then it changed to the brother of Blues' and then she saw her face had changed as she looked back at what had been her body.

 

Then when the body that had once been hers cracked its neck and doused her world into gray with Red and Blue accents, she saw the man she loved in those eyes.

 

She saw his misery and pain before a Red anger had taken over.

 

You see when the man of Blue pushed the maiden of Purple out of her body, she was not the only one. The woman of Red was pushed out and put into a deep sleep, the man of Blue was soon tainted with Black and Red and became twisted.

 

The maiden of Purple called out, she called out for him and all her friends. She called out for the man of Blue, Pink, Burgundy, Rust, the Butler, and the chief- even the woman of Red. But none answered her calls- her cries as she sat in the darkness and it feed on her pain.

 

She cried, yelled, whispered, cursed and screamed until she couldn't anymore, there in that void she was alone with the darkness,

 

Soon the darkness bored and feeling cruel showed the woman of Purple vision of what it had done to the people she had known. How it had twisted and bent her friend of Burgundy to its will, how it had intrigued the woman of Red, and how it broke a bit of its self into the man of Blue.

 

Oh, how she mourned the fallen and how she could not save or help, how for an unknown amount of time did she cry for those that could not cry for themselves. She could overflow the ocean with her tears that she cried for that time, then one day she heard a cry.

 

She followed the cry and this pull in her heart as she walked the dark plane she called her place of rest. The maiden of Purple was pulled into a new place in a flash of light where she found a broken Orange boy, the Orange boy had fake legs and a broken heart. She and the boy spent many days and night talking and simply sitting in the presence of each other.

 

In the Orange boy, the maiden of Purple found a son and the boy of Orange found the mother he had lost in the Purple maiden. They were broken but in their brokenness, they found solace in each other and family.

 

She healed the wounds his broken and cruel father had given him and he healed her in turn, he brought out the side that was almost snuffed out by the darkness around. 

 

The sands of time passed once more, the boy of Orange and his father had left their empty home and moved to live with others like them.

 

Egos they were called, other versions of one man. There they lived in relative peace and quiet. Soon the maiden of Purple found the people of her past as she made amends with her own anger, she found the woman of Red in a cabin in a snowy forest and made her peace. Next, she saw the man of Pink who had changed and talked funny now.

 

But none of that mattered now, she had her Orange boy. And she would do _whatever_ she needed to do to **protect** him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you like my little story!  
> ...?  
> Oh, why didn't I say ' happily ever after' ? Why, that's because this story isn't quiet over just yet.  
> ...  
> I know! quiet the interesting tale is it not? You think it is done but...
> 
> I̶̖̟͂t̶̃ͅ'̸͚̋̈s̴͙̠̈ ̵̠̼̋o̶̔̕ͅṋ̵͚̊ľ̵̰̋y̶̝ ̷̘͛j̶̹͔̒ű̸̗̲͝s̷̼̈́͂t̴͎̎̄͜ ̵̘̾b̷̗̈́̕e̵͓̍g̶̢̠͒̊ȗ̷̳ṉ̸̬͌ ̶̧̉̇


	15. Chapter 15: A Mother’s Wrath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mother's love is a force stronger than nature, whether the bond is by blood or not a mother will do what ever they must do to protect their children.

 

Everyone watches in mute horror as this small and horrifying looking woman rears her right hand that was clenched into a fist and just-

 

- _smashes_ the glass like it was nothing

 

The glass of the mirror made a shrill sound of it breaking into pieces as a fist crosses the bounder of flower-filled void and our world. The place where the glass sheet was is now just a dark nothingness as she walks out, as she walks out from the frame of the mirror and the crunch of her heeled shoes on broken glass fills the room. She looks down at Erics' limp and broken form and everyone can fell the room  _drop_  drastically in tempter as this chilling  **anger** wafts off of her like a wave.

 

It was  ** _suffocating_ **

 

Every Ego takes a few steps back, this deep instinct- this feeling  _deep_ in them all, cries out for them to  _run_. To take cover, to please this woman so that they might be spared this  **wrath** that chills even the most horrifying of them to the bones. To one ego that was shrouded in darkness, it was like a  **nightmare** turned  _reality_. Derek was free at this point due to the droids letting him go as they too step back, the woman walked towards Erics' body and knelled down behind him.

 

She takes her cracked hands and turns his face up to her to see him, the pressure on them lessens as they see how gently she holds his face and sees nothing but small bruises along with redness littering his face from the hits Derek landed. No one can see her face, all they saw were her white eyes and nothing else but they don't need to see the look on her face. They  _feel_ it.

 

It comes back tenfold with a bitter chill, the force and presser sent the newer, lesser-known and weaker egos to the floor as the older and stronger ones shook or fell to their knees. she was glowing a bright  _angry_ purple and lifted Eric.

 

She brought Eric into her arms and cradled him softly, she brought her right knee up and set his back on it with his face in the crook between her neck and her shoulder. She held him like she was trying to shield him- to protect him and apologize for something. She held Eric like a mother holding their child, the hold was firm but tender. She looked at him with a delicate, loving look one would see on a mother unbeknownst to everyone before she lifted her face to look at Derek.

 

Derek gasped before he fell on to his back supported by only his arms as he looked at the woman with horror. Derek shook as sweat poured down his face. Her face! Oh god her face, how it shook him to his bones as her gaped at her.

 

Her face was round and youthful blood rimming and coming out of her nose and mouth, her left cheek had along crack that split off on the top and bottom. She had three others on the right side of her face, one on her eye, the other on here the corner of her mouth and the last near her chin. Her eyes were narrow and cold with the tears flowing down that didn't make her any less imitating, her hair was short and black that floated and swayed slightly. The clothing he could see where just a white button-up that had a stain of bright red from the left area of her stomach, her pants were a simple black, and a silver upside-down crescent moon necklace.

 

Her face, despite being blank faces and a having a mask of nothingness, he knew what she was feeling. Derek could taste it in the air as it caused his insides to turn with its sour taste, he looks around at the eyes so much like his but also not and sees nothing but fear. she was angry- **wrathful**. Not at anyone else in this room, no, she didn't even  **_acknowledge_** there was anyone else in this room, she was focused on him and no one else.

 

Only  ** _Derek_ **

 

She continued to look at him blankly before she raised her hand that was holding Erics' head and it was engulfed in purple light that flickered and moved like a fire. Slowly one by one, from the smallest to biggest shards of glass they rose into the air and moved at a lightning-fast speed. Derek and the egos blinked before the father was surrounded by shards of glass that shined at the sharp edges, leaving nothing to the imagination of what she could do.

 

Derek was caged in and saw nothing but his terrified face in the glass pieces as his eyes darted side to side. His heart felt like a hummingbird as it hammered in his rib cage with fear, his hands slightly slipping from how wet they wear with sweat.

 

Eric groaned and the woman locked down as he opened his eyes, " E-Evelyn...? " he asked with confusion in his voice, she hummed softly, he burrowed into her warmth as he looked around the room and saw how scared everyone was. Everything hurt and it was like his limbs felt like lead, he moved his head slowly as his mind came to an understanding as his eyes met his fathers' terrified eyes. Their eyes locked and Eric remembered everything in bursts as his father looked at him pleadingly, " E-Eric, Kid-kiddo! Call off your f-friend, will ya? " Derek asked with a weak smile. He laughed nervously when Eric didn't reply and just stared at him like a stranger.

 

" Eric! It's me! Your  _Dad_ ! " Derek tried again to plead with Eric and everyone watched this display, " I'm s-sorry for being such a bad Dad but being without y-your Mom  _really_  hit me har- " 

 

" That's the b-best you can come up with? " Eric asked with disgust obvious, Derek stuttered at the question but got no chance to answer as he continued. " A-after you've done to me?  **EVERYTHING** you've done to me, you have the nerve- " Eric tears up and sniffles " - to just say ' I'm s-sorry for being a shit parent'? and think  _t_ _hat'_ s g-going to slide? ". 

 

The mirror woman, now named Evelyn, puts her raised hand around Eric as he whimpers in her hold. She rests her head on his and squeezes him before snapping her eyes open, Derek had stood up and was making a move towards _her_  baby. The shards of broken glass quickly surrounded him once more, Derek flinched as one flew past him and struck the wall behind him. He felt something warm go down his face and then hisses at a pain, he touched his face and saw blood on his fingertips and looked towards Evelyn. 

 

The message was now clear, ' _You stay there or I kill you_ ' and Derek chose to follow it. Smart man.

 

Her eyes were narrow as she lifted her head from Erics and let him look his father in the eyes, Eric didn't even bat an eyelash at the small stream of blood going his fathers face. His face was scrunched up, lips pressed into a frown and eyes wet with unshed tears, " C'mon Eric! Y-you love me, you wouldn't do this to your dear old Dad, right? ". 

 

Eric was quiet as he looked at his father, his abuser, his warden with emotion-filled eyes. Many things were going throw his head, what to say, what to do and how to get his point across. He closed eyes and leaned into Evelyn, drawing strength from her warmth and presence, Eric felt a nudge in his mind and heard a voice.

 

<  I'm here and I'll support whatever you do, and I'll going to do  _whatever _  you need me to. Okay?  >

 

Eric nods and continues to look into his fathers' eyes.

 

<  I'm sorry I wasn't here before to protect you but I'm here now and I'm going to  **protect **  you, okay? I'm here and he's _never_ going to hurt you again.  >

 

" Y-you're right, you're my Dad- " Derek perks up " -and you're right is-shouldn't do this to you. " Eric said as he watched his father open his mouth with a smug smile. 

 

" I'm glad you see rea- " 

 

" I  _have_  t-to do this, I have to cut  **you** out of _my_ life. " Eric said suddenly, Derek looked at his son in shock. " B-but you  _need_  me! " He says to Eric, " **No** , I don't need y-you... what I need was my  ** _Dad_ ** . ". Silence is the only thing in the living room as every Ego watches Eric talk, " I don't need _Derek Derekson_. I don't need the b-businessman, what I  _need_  was my _**Dad**_. " Eric said loudly.

 

He was crying as he hugged Evelyn closer to his body like he was trying to bury himself in her chest. " W-when I need  _him_  the most, when Mom  **died** , he died too and left me this hollow husk of a body to deal with!- " Derek flinches at the mention his Lilly's death " -maybe I don't _hate_ you but I don't _love_ you anymore. ". 

 

" Please just... ** _leave_ ** ... I c-can't _live_  like this anymore! I don't even  _know_  who I am! " Eric pleads with his father as he just watches his only child weep and cry in the arms of a stranger. 

 

It was like someone pulled the wool from his eyes and he was truly seeing for the first time, the shards of glass lowered as Evelyn saw he meant no threat anymore. As Derek watched Eric and Evelyn hug each other he couldn't help but see a distant memory from a long time ago.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_The sun was bright and warm as cool winds rustled the trees and tall grass, the giggles of young and happy children filled the air along with the barks of dogs._

 

_You could see a large group of people in a lone park on a sunny Sunday afternoon, you could see two adults in a sea of children. One tall amazonian looking mother with copper-colored hair and warm brown eyes that watcher her little boys run and play. Her mouth was pulled in to a bright smile that seemed to glow. The other was an averagely tall man with dark hair but happy eyes, he stood next to his tall wife as they look at their children._

 

_You then hear a sharp cry pierced the peaceful atmosphere, the mother and father looked at each other with fear from the cry. Soon their eldest came running " Mama! Eric tripped and scraped his knees, I think Issac and Sean pushed him though cuz Eric didn't want to play with them! ". The Mother, Lilly, sighed and looked at the Father, Derek, " I'll go to Eric and you go talk with the boys about pushing their younger brother. ". The parents split and did their duties. The boys getting a scolding for pushing their brother and how they were supposed to protect him, not hurt or bully him._

 

_Derek soon took Issac and Sean to their younger brother and mother so they could apologize, soon they were met with the sight of Eric in their mothers' arms as he cried. " Hush now Honey bee, you're okay now. Your big brothers didn't mean to hurt you. "._

 

_The memory faded as the older boys said they were sorry and Lilly smiled at him. The sun of that day was so bright it made a halo around her and their boys, it was like a piece of heaven._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Derek stared wide eyes at his son and his companion, the way he held her and how she held him. It was like that Sunday afternoon all over again, Eric was a small little boy again and Evelyn was his Lilly. 

 

Looking at Evelyn as she held his son, he couldn't help but see his Lilly- his beloved wife holding their youngest baby boy. Derek began to cry as he looks at them with regretful eyes, he stammers as he tries to say something- to fix what he'd done to the last piece of her. But he knows, it's too late, he's found someone new to call his parent. Derek still can't help but say-

 

" I'm sorry... I'm  _so_ sorry  **buddy**... I'm sorry "

 

Eric looks up at him and for the first time sees his father, he hears the genuine sorrow in his voice but he can't find it in himself to forgive him. It hurts to look at him, to look at his Dad now, to see him so broken and now fully aware of what he'd done to his son.

 

" J-just... leave, please... I can't look at you anymore.. " 

 

Derek nods and walks out with pain in his steps and sorrow in his bones, he opens the door and looks back at Eric as Evelyn helps him to stand on his own. He wobbles but Evelyn quickly stabilizes him as everyone watches, Derek can't help but smile mournfully as the two of them. Eric had found someone new and he couldn't help but hope she didn't make his mistakes.

 

"... Take care of him " he whispers and sees Evelyn nod

 

He walks out without a second thought and calls a taxi. Derek Derekson is gone in the next minute and watches the Iplier manor get smaller and smaller before it disappears. Derek looks at his old wedding ring and think.

 

' I'm sorry Lily... I broke my promise '

 

 

* * *

 

 

As I watch Erics' father walk out with a different air around him and hear his last request, I couldn't help but nod. He had at least seen the error of his ways. As I watched my Baby get surrounded by men that looked like him, I smiled.

 

I closed my eyes and socked in the warmth of the room when I opened them I made eye contact with a familiar face. As the man whispered a word I felt the blood in my veins freeze, I replied.

 

" Darling...? "

 

 

" Starlight... " 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pain and grief makes us do stupid things, things that hurt those around us. Someone gets hurt, no matter what.


	16. Chapter 16: Stargazing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look into the night sky, look at the first star you see and make a wish

 

We see a large white van parked in an empty parking lot, unknown to the world and seemingly nonexistence to everyone else. We see a dark-haired male of Asian descent as he sits in the drivers set, alone, with an air of sadness and pain around him. He sits and looks at the stars as he remembers happier days and nights, days full of laughter and warmth with nights full of fun and calm. He closes his eyes with a grimes of pain and curls in his seat.

 

His name was Mark _ ~~iplier~~_

 

And he was lonely and sad without his loved ones, he missed what he had and he took too much without giving anything back, now he pays the price. He remembers his love, his brother, his best friend, and his... _little monster_. It was cold without them here- without his little hell-raiser.

 

He missed them all but he missed Evelyn the most, she was there when even Damien wasn't. She was at every show and function for him, she was his number fan and supporter. She taught him that the stars are just the  _beginning_  to something big in his story, that he was important and that he mattered. That he was destined for the big screen- to be a star like his nickname implied. That he was to streak across the night sky and light in up.

 

He remembered when he found out about his wives betray with his brother, how it stung and how he lashed out in a pain-filled rage at all who tried to soothe him. How he found out Damien knew and had  _assumed_  his Evelyn had known as well ( ~~on of many mistakes~~ ), he lashed out when she tried to help his hurt. Tried to calm his fire and make him see sense, Mark recalled screaming at her- accusing her of this betrayal like it was witchcraft and he was a man in Salem.

 

Evelyn's' face was blank but had tears falling from her pain filled eyes as she pressed her lips together as if to stop herself from crying. How she whispered a broken " Okay " and left him alone in that damned house. How she still sent letters throughout the years after that, never coming onto the property herself. It made sense he guessed, she promised to ' Always be his support until he asked her to stop ' and would linger still to continue to support him.

 

' Oh, my friends... ' he thought as he opened his eyes and saw two old-looking photos that had yellowed with time, he felt so heavy and how he felt so small and weak without them at his side and their strength. Mark lets small whimpers leave his mouth as he cries mournful tears, he regrets so much. He regrets letting the house in his mind, how he made those who loved him scatter to the winds, how he regrets tormenting them all and letting himself get lost in the promises of ending his pain. Letting himself willing sink in that black pool of the house.

 

He can't forget it, all the love he had around him. How he felt like the king of the world with his loved ones at his side, how he misses his brother. He misses his family, his soulmates and kindred spirits. Mark can't help but think of memories he loved once upon a time and smiled but now he flinches in shame.

 

 

* * *

 

 

_You hear the laughter of four children in the back of a large and fancy manner, the backyard they play is full of lush dark green grass. There are many trees that you see one boy who wears a light yellow shirt climb up with with a big grin._

 

_He shouts out for the three other children to look at him, they do and gasp with amazement at his accomplishment. A boy wearing a flower his sister gave him says to get down or he'll hurt himself, but the one in the tree just smiles. Another boy calls out to him along with a young girl and the boy in the tree gets down._

 

_The bot that wore a blue flower soon brought the boy that was in a tree to the others, they played and played for the rest of the day. They played princess and the dragon, cops and robbers, cowboys and so much more._

 

_They were so happy and their hearts full of happiness and warmth as they laid down in the soft grass, in a circle and holding the hands of each other._

 

_" We're going to stay together forever, right? " the boy with the blue flower, Damien, asked. The girl, his sister-Celine, said " Of course! " the other boys nodded, " I'll become a big movie star so we can have money! " said Mark. His brother, William, nodded " And I can become a journalist or a fighter like our Daddy! ". Damien nodded with a smile._

 

_" Together forever...? "_

 

_" **Together forever!** " _

 

 

* * *

 

 

Mark heaves as he brings up his right knee to his curled up body, resting his right cheek on it as he puts his forehead on the steering wheel. 

 

The light of the stars catch on his tears, he looks to the second picture of three people. They look young and full of life and joy, the photo was of three smiling young adults the looked like they were just in college.

 

It was a close-up of them with most of their faces with smiles and joyful eyes, there was a halo of light around all of them. All of them looked like they had the happiest time of their lives. 

 

It was of two males that looked to be related and a woman, the two men were taller than her and she just barely reached their shoulders. The man on the right had a shy closed mouth smile but his eyes spoke of unknown joys and laughter, he wore a white button-up with a Gary vest and formal black slacks. The man on the left wore a deep burgundy button-up shirt that was french tucked into his pants, his sleeves were pushed up to his elbows. His face was pulled in to a smirk that gave him a prideful look but his eyes are tender and soft. The woman between them is visibly happy as she smiles with her tongue sticking out and bright eyes, she was also wearing a white button-up shirt with a silver crescent moon necklace.

 

There was a warmth to this picture that you could just feel when you touched it, this _love_ that you can't understand and don't want to because the feeling it gives you. It wraps you in like a blanket and fills you from the inside out.

 

Mark can feel the warmth and cries and tries to think of them both, to think of Damien and Evelyn- to think of Dark and DA and how he hurt them both. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

_" Mark! Dams, come on!! You're gonna miss it! " Evelyn's' voice rings out as she pulls me and Damien up the stairs, " E-Evelyn, I-I don't think this is a good idea!- " Damien says as he follows with a few trips. " -it's p-pass curfew and what if w-we're caught?!?! " he says as he looks at me to try and back him up, I just smirk and grab his other hand then run to Evelyn's' other side._

 

_Me and Evelyn just smile at each other as we pull along Damien to the top of the school roof, when we get there I see a blanket, pillows, some food, and a telescope there already._

 

_" Now~ Little monster, what it  all  this? " I say teasingly as I look at Damien as Evelyn walks up to the blankets and sits down. I see him blush a little before walking over to the blankets as well, I huff as I join them. " Just a little get together under the stars for  my  stars~," she says with a smirk, Damien becomes beet red as I bark out a laugh " That's a good one! Might just have to use it " I say with a wink._

 

_She rolls her eyes and replies " Just remember who gave that one ". We spend the rest of the night just talking and trading quips with each other, soon we're all laying down on the blanket and pillows with my eyes closed. Just talking in everything around me, it's been a long time since I was this happy and relaxed, soon I hear Damien give out a surprised ' oof! ' and feel an impact on my gut._

 

_My eyes snap to the middle where Evelyn was and meet Damien's eyes as he rubs his stomach with a confused look, " Darling what was that fo- " Damien stars but was cut off by said woman say with an excited voice " It's starting! " as she looks back to use and point to the sky._

 

_It the dark blue sky that was blank, there was now  millions  of stars streaking along the sky. My mouth falls open in awe, th-this was amazing and I looked over at Damien as see he's in a similar state as me. As we watch this show I can't help but think of the nicknames Evelyn gave us._

 

_Starlight for Damien and Shooting star for me, Evelyn's' stars._

 

_' Is this what she sees when she looks at us- when she looks at me...? ' I think as I look at the stars with a new look in my eyes._

 

_" Evelyn... why do you call Damien and I, your stars? " I ask as I continue to look at the  Shooting stars . Its quite as Evelyn looks at me then Damien and back to the stars, Damien and I make eye contact as she sits still and her black hair sways int he wind. It feels like an eternity before we hear something._

 

_" Do you know... that the iron in our blood is only found naturally in the core of dying stars? "_

 

_Evelyn looks back to us and turns to face us, her eyes are soft and full of this feeling of wisdom that I can't understand._

 

_" The iron in our blood that makes us- us , the blood that pumps in our veins and keeps us alive. it's made from the explosion of a celestial body? That we, as human, are made of  stardust ? "_

 

_She has this smile on her face as she continues, she looks up as the stars' light gets caught in her eyes._

 

_" Humans are made of stars and when I look at you two- " there's this longing in her eyes as she keeps looking into the night sky " - I see the **brightest stars** I have ever seen. ". Evelyn has her eyes closed as she brings her head down and opens then to look at us, I could feel the air get knocked out of my lungs and I think Damien forgot how to breathe. _

 

_The wind is blowing her dark hair and there barely any light but despite this, the look in her eyes that say nothing but love and the stars in her eyes and the stars behind her falling._

 

_It was like magic, like a dream having someone love me this wholly and unconditionally._

 

 

* * *

 

 

Mark looks up at the night sky and sees something that takes his breath away, the night sky is full of shooting stars like that heartfelt night. He can't help but smile despite his pain as he looks at his namesakes with sad eyes. 

 

Mark regrets a lot of things, that goes without saying, letting the demon into his mind and heart. Hurting everyone he ever knew, Mark never  _wanted_ to hurt anyone he juts...  **wanted to die**. But, he would never ever, no matter what happens to him.

 

Mark will _never_ regret meeting Evelyn

 

He looks into the night sky and makes a wish.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shooting stars are just wish granting stars that had to many wish put on them and cracked under the pressure


	17. Chapter 17: Youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the seconds and minute blur, I can't tell the days apart anymore. I don't know what day it is-what season it is... what mouth or year it is. I have spent the time in this hell crying, screaming, pleading,lying to myself to an empty void.

 

" nonononoNONONONONONNONONO! " I beat the glass as I watch Damien storm out of the door. My eyes were like an overflowing sink as tears just kept on  _coming_  and they won't  **STOP.** They wouldn't stop and I don't think I wanted them to stop, it was like something was clawing my chest as I cried out for my Starlight.

 

" DAMIEN! DAMIEN, PLEASE! " 

 

" DAMIEN YOU PROMISED ME! PLEASE COME BACK! "

 

" COME BACK! DAMIEN! DAMIEN!  _PLEASE_! " 

 

" YOU PROMISED! " 

 

I fell to my knees as I kept on wailing, " ... you  _promised_ ....  _you promised me_  " I soon curled up on my side and held myself as I finally said.

 

" I'm  **SCARED** ... Damien,  _please_ " I begged with clenched eyes and a pool of tears next to me "  **come back**  "

 

 

* * *

 

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

I rock back and forth as I repeated this chant out loud and in my head, a broken and shakily mockery of a smile on my face as I looked into the darkness before me. The mirror behind me as I do this.

 

**_He's coming back_ **

 

**_He promised we'd do this together_ **

 

**_Damien promised and he all ways keeps his promises_ **

 

**_Damien is coming_ **

 

**_ Starlight   is coming back _ **

 

I think as I dig my fingers into my arms as I give out a water laugh. As I gripped my head and began tugging my hair.

 

**Why wouldn't he?**

 

* * *

 

 

I was screaming profanities as I cursed and screamed at everyone. They  **LEFT** me for dead, they all  _lied_  to me! I have nothing but red, hot anger at everyone. 

 

" **I HATE YOU!** " 

 

I scream into the void, " I  _TRUSTED_ YOU DAMN IT! I TRUED YOU FUCKERS- " I pull out the photo of Damien, Mark and me " -AND YOU  ** _BOTH_ ** BETRAYED ME! ". I begin screaming again and I turn to the mirror and I just start punching it with all my fury. 

 

With every punch, with every hit, I yell out as if they ere here to hear my words that were coated with venom and sharp like blades. 

 

"  **I HATE YOU!**  "

 

"  **I HATE YOU!**  "

 

" **I HATE YOU ALL SO GOD DAMN MUCH!**  "

 

"  **I HATE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH!**  "

 

" **I FUCKING HATE YOU DAMIEN!** " 

 

Suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my hands and see they cracked like glass, that they even had glass shards brake off of them. Instead of crying out I just start screaming once more before I ripped off the necklace and chucked it not that far away from me. I feel myself tear up again, god damn it  **NO**! 

 

"  **I HATE YOU!**  " 

 

" **I HATE YOU!**  "

 

"  **I HATE Y-**  "

 

I curl into myself as I clunched my stomach, an undescribed  pain bloomed in an area I was all far too familiar with. I lift my hand and saw nothing but a deep crimson red and then looked at my stomach, saw the pristine white of my shirt was a stained red.

 

My breath quickened as I remembered what happened to me, I fell to my knees. I put my hands to the wound as if I put them there, that if I didn't see it it would go away. That I wouldn't hurt anymore... that I wouldn't be  _scared_  anymore. 

 

I was scared, I so _scared_  and  **alone** , and I didn't  **want**  to be scared and alone. It hurt being alone, it hurt being scared, it hurt being  **hurt**. It was like as if someone had put a ten-pound weight in my chest like someone was taking a knife and was twisting it and stabbing it in my heart. 

 

_Over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and ov-_

 

I let the whimpers and cries leave my mouth and I start to cry out for  **SOMEONE** \- for  **ANYONE**  to help me.

 

 I didn't want to be alone

 

I didn't want to be here

 

I wanted Damien

 

I wanted Mark

 

I wanted  _someone_ to be here with me

 

**_For me_ **

 

I wail as I bend over with my forehead on the ground and my hands on my stomach as I rock back and forth. I lift my head from the floor and see the crescent moon necklace I had thrown on the floor, I see the gift that I... I  **LOVED**  with all my heart. That was given to me by  _my_ two boys. 

 

I crawl to it, as slowly and as painfully as I can, with each whimper and cry that leaves me, I see my boys. I see my two stars in the night sky, shining brightly like the stars they are. I finally was just able to grab it and I just fall to my side and hold it with my left hand as I lay on my right side.

 

" I can't! I can't take this anymore- please just make it stop! " I plead " I can't take this anymore-please just make it stop! MAKE IT STOP! " I yell as I bring my knees close to my body. I can't take this anymore. 

 

" I'm sorry... " I whisper with a voice like crushed glass " Please, you can't leave me now... "

 

" I'm sorry... " 

 

" I'm sorry! "

 

" **I AM SORRY!**  " 

 

I lay there moaning with pain as I rock myself to give myself some similarity of relief.

 

 

* * *

 

 

I have been sitting in the light of the mirror as if reflects the outside world for I don't know how long and I didn't care. I had not spoken, I hadn't even screamed. I just sat there, crying in silence as I looked on with blank brown eyes as I watched the world move on without me. It hurts... knowing I didn't matter anymore- that I didn't mean anything. No one even  _came_  to the house. Not even  _Benjamin_.

 

And that stung, a lot.

 

But, I don't care and I don't care because the house, deciding it didn't like that I just stopped yelling and that it like my  **misery** , showed me something. It showed me the  _truth_ , it showed me  _how_ , when and  _who_  it used for its own sick game of life. It  _sucked_. 

 

It fucking  **sucked**.

 

Seeing all these people I saw and knew and  _cared_ about, get used like they were some cheap toys. And what's even worse? Is that I could've even stopped it, that maybe if I had stayed longer, If I had said something to Mark after he started to distance himself. This would have never happened. But then I saw that even then, I was being used that, I was compelled to leave and leave Mark alone.

 

I sniffed as I looked up and saw the moon instead of the sun. 'I'm sorry... ' I think as I feel even more tears coming down my face, I smile despite the tears and stand. I understood now, and it broke my heart. 

 

I was laughing but I was crying and I felt like I was dying. I couldn't stand the quiet anymore, I couldn't stand this _injustice anymore_. I felt like I was dying but I'll keep on crying. 

 

Now I'm standing in front of the mirror as I cry and whimper from the pain and tears. I open my mouth and just...

 

_Scream_

 

And keep on screaming as I cry. I keep on screaming and screaming and  _screaming_  and I can't  **stop**. All I'm doing is screaming and crying and I just can't stop. 

 

I kept on screaming for my anger, my sadness, the injustice, for my friends, for everyone the manor had hurt, for my boys, for Mark, and for Damien. I didn't stop screaming and I didn't stop crying.

 

***SHATTER***

 

Something broken and all I could taste was feel was something warm and I could taste something like iron, my neck and face felt like something I couldn't describe. The only thing I could say was. _Pain_ , I was in so much pain and that was all I felt. 

 

I crumbled to my knees as I covered my face, which smashed my glasses, before I moved them to my neck. I lifted my palms to see them stained a deep red, I tried to move but something was holding me down. So I feel to my side instead and griped my neck as tears fell, my eyes felt funny like there was something in them. I reached with my free hand and pulled out my picture, smearing blood on it, with shaky hands as I reached for the necklace. I laid in pain as I cried, soon I closed my eyes the last thing on my mind was the laughter of Mark and Damien from university. 

 

_' I'm sorry...'_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tried, maybe I'm tried of living if you can even call this living. I'm so alone, there's nothing good but I'm dealing with it.


	18. Chapter 18: Falling to my Knees

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm on my knees, I'm asking what you want and all you do is run. If I'm not what you need, what you want then I beg you to let me go. Set me free because I'm tried of being on my knees and asking all the questions and asking what you want.

 

Everything felt like a blur as I watched Evelyn just... hold Eric in her arms, there was an obvious  **love**  there but I didn't know what kind. And that scared me, Eric reminded me a lot of  _me_ . A me before Dark, before the YouTube channel, before  _this_  Mark, and before the poker night. The  _good_  me.

 

The Damien that didn't steal the love's of his life's body and leave her for over a century alone, that didn't say anything when he saw his sister start to cheat on his best friend with his brother ( the other love of his life ). A Damien that was the seer of _Justice_  and not  **vengeance** and  **rage** , a _good_  Damien.

 

As everyone else gathered around Eric when his father left, I watched Evelyn stand off to the side. Watching with a sway as she looked at them all. When she first appeared I thought this was some hellish  _nightmare_  but as I continued to watch and watch what was going on, I saw that this was no nightmare.

 

No one had gotten a good look at her but Eric and Derek, no one had looked at her after everything. All I could see was her hair and hands along with the same outfit she wore from the poker night. I just stood there in fearful silence as I looked at her side view, I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to say! But, I said something anyways.

 

" Darling...? " I said it like a question as I looked for any signs of hostility, Evelyn's head whipped to me with black hair flaring as she turned and I made eye contact. 

 

What I saw was wore than any of the _ghost_ s I saw, the loving dark brown eyes I loved had turned an empty white with tears and bags under them, her face was still the warm tan but had cracks on them that reminded me of the mirror. Evelyn had blood coming out her mouth and nose in a small streams, her white shirt was stained a bright red where- where the  _killing_  blow was.

 

" Starlight... "

 

Her voice was still the same no matter how faint or unstable it was, it was full of disbelief and an underline of  _fear_ as she looked at me.

 

_~~why are you scared of me? I should be the one scared of you!~~ _

 

As I looked at her all I could see were what I had done wrong, what I had let happen- what was  ** _my fault_ ** . I let this all happen, I let Celine have her fun with my **_first love_ **  and it cost me my  ** _second love_ ** \- my  _Moonflower_. 

 

I saw her make a movement to me and raise her hand and all I could so was... _flinch_.

 

I stepped back and turned to the stairs, what I didn't see was her face controvert into one of pain like she had been _shot_. All I heard before I had made it up stars was the shout of my name.

 

"  **DAMIEN!**  "

 

I was running and I didn't know where I was going. all I knew was that I wouldn't face her- I couldn't face Evelyn. Not now... not like this-when I didn't know what to say.

 

'  _I'm sorry_  ' was the last thought I had before I ripped open a portal and ran into it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone watched the man- the monster they thought was unshakable run from this unknown woman. She screamed out a name only two knew, she yelled out the name like it was a life line and went to run after Dark but  _tripped_.

 

She and everyone else felt an energy ripple through the house and the egos knew Dark had fled the home, Evelyn knew it too as she looked longingly at the stairs while on the floor. 

 

"  _Damien_.... " 

 

Evelyn whispered out as she laid there before she slowly pushed herself up with shaky limbs. She sat on folded knees as she sat in silence, as Evelyn sat alone and the Egos watched her with scared eyes. They couldn't help but feel pity for her, she knew  _Dark_  and Dark knew  _her_ but Dark was _afraid_ of her? As they all muttered what they had saw, what they had thought and so on. Eric couldn't help but think of the name Evelyn had shouted,  _Damien_. 

 

Eric knew who Damien was, he was the  **love** of Evelyn's life. But, Damien who he was told was kind, soft-spoken, compassionate, and  _loyal to a fault._  Was the same as Dark; the man that was as cold as a dead-body, harsh, everyone knew as a more  _monster_ than man- was Evelyn's beloved Damien. That Damien was Dark, that they were the same person? Different sides of the same coin?  

 

The same Dark who would send grown men to their feet, make them beg forgiveness at his feet, and had killed ( From what he had heard ) in  _cold blood_ . Was the same Dark that had  _ran_  at the mere  _sight_  of Evelyn reaching out for him? 

 

As Eric was going through his thought as he was sat on the couch by one of the men and was getting a check of by Dr. Iplier, another man looked at Evelyn with a confused face. 

 

He looked at her as flashes of images went through his mind faster than he could process them, faster than he could _see_ them. It hurt his head, Willford brought his hands to his head as he slowly brought himself to the couch. It felt like his mind was splitting himself apart and it was madding! He couldn't understand anything! Normally he wouldn't mind it but right now he-he  _wanted_ to know, Willford  _needed_  to understand. 

 

Why did this woman look so familiar?

 

Why did Dark run?

 

How did she know Damien's name?

 

Why did she call  _Dark_  of all people, _Damien_?

 

Who was she to Dark?

 

Who was she to Eric?

 

.......

 

Who was she to him? 

 

Who is sḧ̸̻́̆̔̆͑̕ę̶̦̲̩͎̫͙̖̰͕͆̈́͒̐̋͐̊͆͗?̸̛̹̗̝̲̜̹̻̌̈́̀̽̀̓͑́̐͛̀̚͝

 

**W̷̬͈̮͉̠̖̗̞̞̠͍̐̈̒̌̆ͅH̵͇̠̟̱̗̯̉̊̿͒̀̂̍͒̅́̕͜͝O̸̢̻̻͓̻̗͇̜̫͇̦̠͚̓̒̌̈́͑̑̾̅͒̓͝͝ ̴͙̬̜̦̭̾̋́̆̊͂͋͘̕͜͜ I̴̧̼̪̰̽͂̃̒̀̈̒̔͌̈̈S̷̢̨̛̙̗̗͙̹͊͆̑̄̒̊̂̍̕ ̴̨̯̟̲̦̝̺͑͐͆̆̈̑̂͜H̶̡̗͓̦̞̎E̶̤͖̓̑̋̍͐̈̔̎̃́͑̃.̶̢̧͍̟̪̗̥̠̱̳͓̏̒͝.̴̨̦̬̲̣̞͊̏̈́͜ͅͅ.̶̡̧̼̮̹̪̲͓͇̣͔̞̓͊́̏̎̓̒̆́͜͝?̵̱̼̫̦̒̿̓̎̚**

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

. . .

 

... Who am I?

 

 

All I see are these flashes of light in my head and a peck of something; a face, eyes, a smile, gray skies, white flowers, gold medals, hands stained a deep red, white tile flooring, dark wood, blue, red, burgundy, rust and a purple.

 

The flashed continue until they're all I can see, they take up all the space in my mind until  _everything_ is a stark white. It hurts to look at but I don't look away, I feel like have to see what's going on and if I look away for even a minute... I'll miss something.

 

First I smell fresh cut grass, the smell of cigar smoke, perfume of something I can't place, and flowers. Next is a soft breeze, cool and calm and familiar. Now I hear voices, one is female- loving, gentle but stern; like a mother, the male one is full of wisdom, and amusement; a father, and now were two voices. They were both young, male and full of child-like wounder, and so  _so_  happy.

 

Then and explosion of colors and pictures, they went fast but this time. This time I _knew_  what I was seeing, what I was _looking_  for. I was seeing my _memories_ , who I was before _Willford_ -before  _this_  me.

 

I'm a young boy and playing with my brother, waving swards and screaming with delight. Our parents are on the patio, smiling, my father is smoking a cigar and the smell mixes with the smell of grass and my mothers vanilla, lemon perfume. The servants walking about as they work but turn to watch me and Mark play with smiles.

 

**Flash and the memory changes**

 

I'm a little bit older but still a child, I'm playing with a pair of twins; a boy and a girl. The boy looks similar to me and my brother but we all know we're not related, the girl tells me and Mark of fae and magic from bedtime stories told to her by her foreign nannies. She is wild and new, I get a warm feeling in my chest looking at her and I get the same feeling but  **strong**  when I look at the brother of her. Damien. We look at each other and I smile widely, he smiles back shyly.

 

**Flash**

 

I'm a teen and we, my brother and me, are fighting about Celine, We yell and shout about how why I'm better or why he's better. We trade blows, smash glass, throw vases and plates as the servants hide and look on with dread.

 

We did get our fathers temper.

 

**Flash**

 

I'm a young man- an adult now and I'm being called to action. I'm packing my things, my father was proud and encouraging, my mother sad but excepting, and my brother. Though our fight was serous and we had taken a vow of silence, he was worried and filled with fear but still patted me on the back and wished me a safe return. Celien had looked at me with a disapproving stare but wished me to come back alive and in one piece.

 

Damien, oh Damien. He had screamed, cried and begged-plead with me not to go, to live and another man will happily take my place. He feared for my life and made it known. He was on his knees as he gripped my pants, Damien's soft eyes were filled of such pain and fear, fear for me and if I would live or not.

 

The wind was chilly the night I left, and the sky was gray and poring.

 

**Flash**

 

I can't breath, **I CAN'T BREATH!**  

 

The winds howls and ships around me as I hear the screams of friend and foe alike fill the air, I see from the corner of my eye one of my brother in arms go down with a sick ' _thud_ '. The green grass and moist earth is slick with red, **_red_ ** blood.

 

I run and try to stop the bleed, I push and push ans _push_ , I cant feel anything- **I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO**.

 

Everything is cold and a blur and when I come back I'm standing in an empty field littered with body's, it's hard to stand with shaky knees that feel unsteady and the pool of red blood that , despite the thick shoes I wear, can feel the heat on the sole of my feet.

 

I feel a thick, warm liquid trail down my arms, I look at them and they stained red, red, red, red, red, r **ED** ,  **RED.**

 

i think of the saying of one of the other cadets '  _Red means dead_ ' and there is so much red.

.

.

.

.

.

_Red means dead and everyone is dead_

 

**Flash**

 

I'm standing in front of my old home with medals of gold, they feel heavy and filthy. They don'y feel worth the blood on my hands, the weigh on my shoulder and the empty room in houses. 

 

I see Mark and glows with a happiness that I've never seen, I feel my insides drop and my blood become ice as he tells me. He and Celine had gotten married in my absents, I smile that feels like a hundred pounds and say congratulations.

 

I say I'm happy for them.... I'm laying.

 

**Flash**

 

I'm kissing Celine in the cover of nigh, stars bright above us. We pull away and I see her lips are a bright red, I feel sick to my stomach and smile when she sees the distance look in my eyes. 

 

" I'm fine, my love! " 

 

I'm laying through my teeth

 

**Flash**

 

Screaming and the crashing of glass as me and Mark yell at each other, this is worse than the fight we had when we were young. It stings with every insult I yell and he spits. 

 

Celine yells and joins me at my side, throwing the golden ring with the red gem on it at my sibling. We leave through the front door, I look at he mirror and close the door with a bang, bags in hand.

 

**Flash**

 

I'm holding a cream colored letter that was written in familiar writing, I sit at my desk. I'm still bitter about the fight but I feel this hope in me, I see the red of Celine and feel sick to my bones. I smile and kiss her, it feels wrong.

 

Why does this  _feel wrong_? 

 

**Flash**

 

I'm waking up the familiar stone walk way and make it to the door, I stand, looking at it wit a look. What happens next? What will happen, what am I going to do? Who will be there?

 

I hear a soft " Excuse me? " and turn to met the eyes of a young woman, round faced and petite. She has a worried face on, and shifts lightly on her feet.  _Cute_. Her hair as black as night and in a shoulder length bob, her eyes catch the setting suns light and I see flacks of gold behind her glasses, her skin is a tan, lips full and soft looking.

 

Her clothing is casual but very business like, white button-up shirt tucked into black slacks, black heeled Loafers, and a sliver crescent moon pendent. Simple but classy, I shake my head and introduce myself. She smiles at me and I'm flooded with this warmth, its filling and so calming. She introduces herself as " District Attorney or Da! " 

 

**Flash**

 

I'm looking at the DA as she and Damien poke fun at each other, nothing but affection. I tell them my old dreams with disappointment coursing though my body. 

 

It's a silly and stupid dream

 

The DA suddenly yells out a name and looks at me with a warm look in her eyes and the same filling smile, she tells me no dream is stupid. She encourages me to follow it, I feel a familiar warmth spreed through me as she giggles with Damien as they look at me.

 

I feel sober despite being drunk off my ass.

 

My heart skips a beat as they hug me, drunken giggles fill my hears and warmth envelops me.

 

**Flash**

 

Everything had gone wrong, my brother- Mark had been killed and I did it! It was accident, it was just some Russian roulette and now everything had gone a muck because of it. 

 

The sweet DA and the Detective had gone on the case and everyone was a suspect, my pride made me act like a fool about my own brothers' death, his blood on my hands.

 

**Flash**

 

There was a flash of light in the house and I saw the group that had gone out side run up stairs, fallowing the old gardener as he ran. The door Celine and Damien had gone into swung open, the light from it blinding us all for a second.

 

Celine stood in the light like an angry god, a twisted smile on her face. There was something wrong and it made everything in me scream.

 

George had run to close the door, the Da scrambling to help as the body of Celien smiled with dark intent.

 

**Flash**

 

There was shouting and me and the detective held each other at gun point, my eyes filled with tears and rage. The Da behind me as she too shed tears of her own pain and grief, she begged and pleaded with us to not do this, to think _rationally_.

 

But it was too late, my finger twitched and a loud bang filled the air. The detective looked at me with wide glassy as he slid down the wall behind him, staining red.

 

The Da gaped my arm, trying to get the gun so I could do no more harm and take not another life. 

 

_**Bang** _

 

The Da went still before backing up with her hands on her stomach, she looked at me with shocked and hurt eyes.  **Red** , **red**  it was every where. It climes up her shirt and flowed out her mouth and nose.

 

" Colonel...? "

 

She said before she fell back words, I ran forward to catch her but I was one second to late. I missed her as my finger tips brushed against hers and I heard a sicking crunch.

.

.

.

.

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_Red means dead..._

 

**Flash**

 

I sat in a chair as I stared at the DA's body, I had wiped away the blood on her head, hands and on the ground. I put my coat under her head, she looked like she was sleeping.

 

She looked peaceful and like she was about to wake up any minute.

 

I held Damien's cane with shaky hands as I weep with grief.

 

It was an  ** _Accident_ **

 

**Flash**

 

I stood up when I saw the DA stand and look around, the sun catching her face and making her eyes looked like amber. Her eyes were soft as she looked at me, I babbled and babbled.

 

Of course she's not dead! Why would she be head? It was all a game! A JOKE!

 

I limped out the hose as I called out for Damien and Celine, a broken smile on my face as I did.

 

Red don't mean dead!

 

**Flash**

 

The pictures stopped and I'm left alone in my head as I come to an understanding. I look blankly as I feel myself shake.

 

My name is William J. Barmun

 

I am the Colonel

 

I am Willford 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Evelyn continued to sit on the wooden floor, sad and tears hitting the floor. The setting suns light cased a halo around her, making her look ethereal as some egos looked at her with wide eyes and awed. The others look at Willford as he shook on the couch, gripping his pink hair with a hard grip.

 

Chocking out gasps and sweat coming down in face, the last time he had an episode like this, it did not end well for anyone. Dark had been the only one able to snap him out of this mess and Dark was MIA, Willford suddenly stooped. Looking up and showing everyone his tear ridden face, his eyes were glassy and full of pain. But, they were clear- like there was this clarity that wasn't there before. 

 

Willford stood up shakily, pushing himself up with the armrest of the couch and made his way to Evelyn. His eyes looking at nothing but her,everyone watched on. Moat of the Egos had left for once reason or another, the only ones there were Dr. Iplier, the Googles, the Jims, Bim, and the Host. They watched as Willford stumbled and tripped on his on feet to his way to Evelyn, she turned and looked at him. He stopped for only a second before walking with a vigor that wasn't there a second ago.

 

Evelyn is still sitting on the floor when he had made it to her, he looked at her with said pain fulled eyes as tears slip out. Wilford reached out with a shaky hands and fear in his voice as he asked.

 

" B-bully...? " 

 

And everyone watched as her eyes went wide and tear increased as she put her hand over mouth before she launches herself into his arms, her grip is strong and squeezing but it oh so warm and full of something he can't name. Willford slowly puts his arms around her and returns the squeeze and a chocked sob, "  **_I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry-_ **" he chants as they hug. 

 

Wilford is apologizing for forgetting her, how could he  _forget_  her? she was warm and like the moon, always there for you and shinning on you with her light. For leaving her, alone and for hurting her and not saving her- he's a war  _hero_ \- he has to save her and be  _her_  hero.

 

The room is filled with warmth at this sight, they sway slight as Evelyn pulls away for a second and puts her head to his. She looks into his eyes with a watery smile and shakes her head. The message is clear to him and Eric recognizes the look in her eyes, he knows it all to well.

 

' There's nothing to be sorry for, you did nothing wrong. ' 

 

Sobs fill the room with chocked,trembling breaths. Willford's form is curled over Evelyn's and engulfs it, his tears stain her white top but she dons't care. She can feel the pain in her heart lessen with every second they hold each other, the other Egos feel as if they are intruding a privet as they watch this crazy and insane man collapse in the arms of this unknown, well not so  _unknown_ , woman. They swayed as she hummed a familiar, calming tune. 

 

Evelyn twitched but shoved past it, hugging Willford closer and _tighter_ . This moment, its sweet- its  _tender_ . And it;s everything He needed, it wasn't the fearful distance of the other Egos and not the unsure and cold-closed off embrace of Dark. This is warm, filling and filled with understanding and unconditional _love_. It make him weep more and take in more like a man drinking water for the first time, he's greedily taking in the warmth being offered with out a second thought.

 

The moment is torn apart with a sharp, pain filled gasp and Willford being pushed back as he and Evelyn part from each other with a stumble. 

 

Everyone looks to Evelyn for an answer and are greeted with the sound of blood dripping onto the floor, for the whole time Evelyn has been here. Not a  _single_ bit of blood had gotten onto the floor, it stayed on her body like paint, but now it streamed off of her. She lifted her hands from her stomach and saw they were stain-covered- with blood in a all too familiar way, so familiar that it-it  **scared**  her. The stain of her blood on her white shirt, it grew to an even bigger size.

 

When she looked up from her hands and saw the absolute  _fear_  in Willford and Eric's eyes, she pushed down her fear and shook her head again. Frantic and fast. Evelyn opened her mouth to try and talk, to try and stop them from worrying. To say ' I'm okay! ' but that didn't come out, nothing even close.

 

The sound of blood coming out of her mouth like a waterfall did. It spattered on the ground and on her shoes, Evelyn looked like death. 

 

Evelyn felt cold and faint, like she was about to fall. Something warm went down her head before she felt an pain ring loudly in her head appear, the ringing and how faint she felt along with the pain. It sent her to the ground, as she fall, Willford rushed to grape her. This was to sudden and the image of it all was to much and he couldn't fail again, this time Willford  _caught_  her.

 

Both of them went clattering to the floor, Evelyn's' body limp and boneless in Willford's arms. Eric had by now ran to her side, or at least, he tried to. He had tripped due to his fake legs becoming slight lose on their hold on his legs and he crawled the rest of the way to her, his prosthetics still on him but useless. 

 

Evelyn's head was on Willfords' thighs and her right hand was being held by Eric, both of them were shaking. Evelyn's eyes close and open on multiple times, blood was staining Will's pants and shirt. The red leaving a bright mark on his pale yellow button-up and khaki pants.

 

As the two men were holding her and weeping with despair, the other could do nothing but watch ( or narrate ) on with horror. Everyone felt a familiar ripple of energy pass through the house. 

 

Dark was home.

 

 

* * *

 

 

I felt so cold but the blood that was coming out of me was so warm, I feel so sleepy. I wanna go to sleep, I wanna take a nap. I look at the two faces above me with fuzzy and unfocused eyes, was everything always this fuzzy? Did I even have my glasses on? 

 

" **Evelyn-okay-what-happening?!?** " 

 

" **Bully-please-not-another-please-got-fault** -"

 

" **Help-Dr-someone-too much-** "

 

" **so much-where-towels-** "

 

Why did everything sound like I was under water? I tried to move but I felt a white hot pain shoot through my whole body, **FUCK** . okay bad idea, let's  _not_ so that again. I felt two pair of warm hands on my body, I leaned into the warmth they radiated. They felt nice and _sooooooo_ warm. I looked up and I saw pink and yellow, I smelt gun powder, sugar and candy. It smelled weird but it worked, I smiled up at the man above me and I couldn't help but think of a name.

 

" _William..._ "

 

I felt the pink and yellow man freeze, I whined and thought I did something bad. He just hushed me and patted my face, this time I can hear him clearly as he says " I-it's okay... it's o-okay ". I smiled up at him, I looked at the other face and felt myself brighten up.

 

" Baby! " 

 

I raised my hand that Eric was holding and patted his face, I felt a red hand print on his face and felt him cry even more. I made another whining sound and looked at my hands, I saw even more red. I hummed but soon remembered, oh that's right.

 

I'm hurt and my boys are worried, I'm bleeding on the floor of an unknown house and are in the arms of them both. As I come to full fruition, I felt a dull fear mix with a throbbing pain in my head and think.

 

' I...I'm going to die....I'm going to die  _again_  and... I never got to see  **them**... '

 

Tears are running down my face at an uneven pace, I feel the pain spread and my vision fades in and out. I can barely see, all I can see are blotches of shapes and colors, hear bits and pieces of things and if I'm lucky i can hear a clear sentence.

 

' Where is he? I-I miss him, I miss them both. I want both my _boys_ \- I want both my _stars_. '

 

I then feel a cold hand on my face and my eyes open slowly, ' when did I close them? ' I think softly. When I open my eyes and all I see are blotches of gray, blue and red, I was obviously confused. I hummed softly and blinked again to try and clear my vision.

 

' Who are you...? '

 

As the blobs of colors slowly become more clear and become more sharper and more human, I see the face of-of...  ** _Damien_ **. My eyes go wide and I let out a sob. In the back of my mind a voice hisses ' you look like a child! ' but I don't care, I'm bleeding out and about to die. 

 

**_STARLIGHT, YOU'RE HERE...!_ **

 

I reach out my hand that's free and reach for him and this time, he gaps it with a firm grip. I can't help but smile, at least my Starlight is here. I can't help but a deep disappointment in my heart and feel the heart beat I didn't even know I had anymore, slow. 

 

As I look at the three men before me, I can't help but feel this warmth and happiness in me. I-I'm _here_. I'm here and I'm happy, I hear faint shouting but I don't mind that. As I look at them one by one and see their stained by red, I feel shame. ' Oh man... their dirty... ' I think numbly before I get the hand Damien isn't holding and softly pat Eric on his face and hum.

 

He's crying, He shouldn't be crying. He should be happy, he stood up for himself and he saw he has people that care about him. I see his lips move before I hear anything and when I do, I feel  _so_  warm.

 

" Mama... _Mama_ ,please don't leave me! **MAMA**! " 

 

My smile goes wide as I rake my hand through his hair, as he had bowed his hair to my chest, I keep on patting his head and humming before I look at William- I mean Willford and Damien. Their both crying, oh why are they crying? They didn't do this, it just... _happened_. Will's tears hit my head and mixes with the blood, I chuckle and take my hand out of Starlight's hand to wipe his tears and also pat his face. I do the same to Damien with a smile, I put my hand into his and nuzzle into Will's warmth.

 

I'm so cold but that's okay, at lest I got to see them-maybe not all of them but I got to see them. I'm heavy and cold but I have so much warmth abound me, I'm ready- I'm ready to leave. I take one goo look at all of them again and give them another big smile... I won't ever forget the love I have around me. I slowly close my eyes despite the faint shouting and shaking.

 

' I...I'm going to take a short nap...

 

And... at least.. I-I got to see him. '

 

I close my eyes, and breath out.

 

* * *

 

 

Evelyn fades out of conciseness just as Dr. Iplier come back down and yells " the operation table is read! Quickly! " as he then runs back up to his floor. 

 

Willford with hast picks up Evelyn's' limp body and runs up the stairs, a large puddle of blood is where she was and it just scars Eric. Dark also runs up the stairs and tells one of the googles to pick up Eric, by the time they all make it to the floor. The doors have just closed and Will is still holding his arms out, like he still has Evelyn is his arms.

 

As this chaos unfolds and time passes, Eric is now passed out with Willford on the floor. Dark passes in front of the doors, having not changed out his blood stained clothing- none of them have. All of their clothing is stained with stiff and crusty patches of brown-red blood. 

 

Dark finally stops pacing and falls to his knees, looking like a believer in front of a god and cries with grief.

 

" Please... **fucking**   _please_ ! Not- _not again_ ! I can't do this  _again_ ! " he yells as he grips his hair, " I'll give you anything but please!  ** _Please_ ** , not her! Not  _Evelyn_ -not my _Moonflower_!

 

As Dark cried to an empty void, Eric has opened his eyes little and looks at him and right now. Eric can see a little of the Damien, Evelyn had spoken about in her stores. He can see him. He can see her _Starlight_ ,  her _Mayor_.

 

And, he's so lost with out her, they all are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aren't you tried? You've been running and fighting for so long and you've done so well, you need a nap. Don't worry, you wont miss anything


	19. Chapter 19: Misery loves company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sounds of heart monitors, breathing machines and so on fill your ears. It's all you can hear, you wish you could hear something else but you're alone with her now. And, you know what they saw. Misery loves company.

 

 

It was quiet... all I could hear were the sharp beeps, the humming of machines and shallow breathing. I sat in a chair next to a bed, my fingers crossed and my elbows on my thighs as I crouched over looking at the floor. I was **scared** to look at who was on the bed, of who looked like death, of what Evelyn looked like.

 

Dr. Iplier had managed to get her stable, not by much but stable and that was all we could hope for. It took hours- _days_ to even get to a state where we could breath a little. Even then we had to call for help from other Egos, normally I would be against such ideas but... this was Evelyn. She was worth more than some wounded pride and she need help.

 

We got Dr. Schneeplestein and the Magician, this wasn't a simple matter of just wounds or normal life and death. I-we needed them both, with the help of the Doctor and the Magician, they got Evelyn stable.

 

But... there was something _wrong_.

 

She was stable but all the wounds she had were... _lethal_ and had taken a toll on her body due to how slow we were to act. Evelyn was in a healing sleep, a _very_ deep one.

 

Evelyn was in a  _ **coma**_.

 

I finally looked up for the first time in mouths, they had managed to get her stable about 4 months ago but I had stayed away from the clinic like the plague. I didn't want to see what had become of her, I saw what Eric had looked like, what Willford looked like.

 

Broken, mournful, full of grief, and empty

 

It was hard... finding the strength to come into this room, I had been coming to the clinic to just sit but in that time I had never looked at her. I was scared to- to see the damage I had done to her, what I was responsible for.

 

I let out a shaky breath and a few tears as I looked at her, she was covered head to toe in bandages. She looked like a mummy, as I looked at her and reached for her bandaged hand I couldn't help but think of all the injuries the Doctors had listed off to me.

 

 

* * *

 

 

There was a knock on my office door as I looked at the photo on my desk, I took a deep breath before I said they may enter. I looked up and saw three grim-looking faces, " What's her condition? " I asked after a heartbeat.

 

They all looked at each other before Dr. Schneeplestein spoke " Ja, zhe patient is stable... but.. " he trailed off, more than hesitant that to tell me the rest. " But? " I said with a hard face, " Her wounds are existences and- " this time the magician, Marvin, spoke, " There is a mixture of two auras around her, one of them is dark and vile. ". At that, I couldn't help but something in me shakes off the thought of the house demon controlling her. 

 

" That one is fading, thankfully, but it looks like it was the only thing holding her together. " Marvin ran his hands through his hair before he continued " It was holding her together and keeping all of her injuries from hurting from her and now that it's gone, everything is catching up with her. Full force. ".

 

" And... what are her injuries? " I ask, Dr. Iplier steps forward and his face his grim. " It's very bad, along the lines where I have to ask how is she alive at all? " I take a deep breath and make a motion for him to continue. He looks at me and the Septic egos in the room before he lists off all of Evelyn's injuries.

 

By the time he had finished I had my head in my hands, I took a deep breath and looked up. They all looked nervous when they saw the look in my eyes, what they saw I don't know- maybe they saw my fear or maybe my seething rage. Whatever they saw, they feared it and braced for impact. 

 

" Leave me,  ** _now_ **. " 

 

They left with hast but with some grace, closing the door softly then quickly dashing away if the fast pitter-patter of feet said anything. I rested my head on my left hand, head tiled and balancing on my pointer finger and thumb as I thought.

 

Stupid, reckless, numb skull, _dumbass_ , woman!

 

My left hand clenched into a fist, shaking with rage. The air around me crackling with unleashed power as my after images shifted around me, showing what I would be doing if not for the thin vale of control I had left. My mouth pulled in a snarl with the unholy fire in my veins, when I found who did this to her- I felt myself go limp and a chill wash over me. 

 

That's right, I did this to her. I'm the reason she's hurt, why... why she's like this in the first place. Why she died in the first place.

 

My fire left me and a frost moved in, my eyes dull and fist now limp. I went back to thinking of her condition, her wounds and how she was doing now.

 

Gunshot wound, cranial trauma, Hand injury, Feet, and lower leg injuries, Mild frostbite, Internal bleeding, Blood loss, Signs of starvation, Neck injury, Eye injuries, Laryngeal trauma ( Voicebox injury ), Minor skull fractures, Blood found in the lungs

 

At every one of these things go throw my head I feel more and more guilt and self-hatred bubble inside me, I feel it overflowing and it burns me. Good, I deserve for what I've done to her.

 

Tears fall as I go back to looking at the picture and I can't help but think, ' what went wrong? '

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Her hand is small and limp in my hold, rough from the bandaging and cold to the touch. She had wires sticking in her, the only sign that showed she was alive as they beeped and hummed like a sad, mournful lullaby. Her dark hair spread around her, making a halo of black around her head, contrasting the pale white wrappings on her face and her pale tan skin. I only saw her right eye, mouth and a little of her mouth along with her hair and the rest was covered in wrappings. 

 

As I looked at her I couldn't help but think of the others and how they were doing. Most of the egos had been quite about who she was, others had been skittish from how she had appeared to us, and others had been patiently waiting for something to give. But, the ones I truly worried about were Willford and Eric.

 

I already worried for Willford due to his brash, and erratic nature but Eric, I worried for him because of how he acted as well as his relations to Evelyn. As of now, they had all but shut down.

 

Eric had become nothing more than a ghost, he was barely there and his eyes were always red-rimmed, always looking like he was seconds away from crying. He mostly stayed in his room, drifting from place to place and having a broken looked on his face. Eric was pale and thin now, from not going outside in the gardens or just not eating enough, I don't know. His eyes had a sad, mournful gaze to them. When Eric did talk or look at anyone, he was quiet and meek-looking and spoke in hoarse whispers and trembling lips.

 

Willford had turned into a husk of a man I knew him as, he was quiet, solemn and distant. His clothing was always disheveled in some way or form like he had to much on his mind to think about the small things. His eyes that had that fire and insane glint, were now blank and not a speck of light in them. He too drifted room to room in the house, he did not speak, eat or drink as far as I knew. Willford looked at everyone blankly like he didn't even know who they were, even to me.

 

I don't even know what happened when I had run away from Evelyn but something happened, something that jogged his memory in a way and to have a tragically familiar scene happen once again before him. And, because of that, he had shut down. 

 

I chuckled as I brought her hand to my face as if she was holding me with it. It wasn't like I was doing any better than those two, it was like I had just come back from the dead again. 

 

I was cold, distance, temperamental and had taken up the act of drinking my whiskey more often. Not enough to get me drunk, not like I truly can in a way that matters, but enough to take my mind off the pain and to have a buzz. I was constantly off in my head and when I looked into the mirror and looked into my own eyes, I saw nothing but pain. I gave off an aura of grief and unstable emotions, I was a mess. I tried to work but I made little to no progress and just drank myself into a haze.

 

 I looked at Evelyn again and pressed my face into her hand, I sighed and stood up. My time was over anyways and I had nothing to say that I didn't already say, might as well as give Eric his time.

 

I moved her hand back to her side and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, lingering as my finger met her bandaged covered face. I moved my head down slightly and pressed my lips her forehead.

 

" Wake up soon Moonflower, I miss.. your _child_ misses you... " 

 

I walk out and look at her one more time before I close the door, I pass Eric on the way out and he looks paler. I nod at him and he looks at me with a sad look in his eyes and walks numbly into the room, I remember when I found out Erics' and Evelyn's relationship. How I thought it was one of romance, of warm beds and beating hearts.

 

I remembered how my heart is broken but how my blood boiled and how something in me screamed at the injustice. How something vile in me screamed to kill him, to paint the walls a deep crimson with his blood, how it wanted me to make him fear me and to make him never go near her again. Because she was  **mineminemineminmiNEMINEMINEMI** \- I shook my at that thought, she wasn't mine, she wasn't some prize to be won, to be fought over. Evelyn was her own woman, she could make her own decisions.

 

I chuckled, she'd kick my ass anyway if she wanted too.

 

After all, why would she love a monster like me? The one that caused all her pain and the reason she's in a coma? 

 

I opened the door to my bedroom, taking in the black, white, and gray of it all and took off my suit jacket and laid down. Closing my eyes and welcoming the darkness in me. 

 

 

* * *

 

 

Eric laid on the bed next to Evelyn, curled on the side of it with his eyes closed. He laid there just listening to her breathing, fighting back the urge to cry again. Eric nestled deeper in Evelyns' neck and took a deep breath. Lavender, roses, and browned butter filled his senses, wrapping him in a sense of safety and calm. This... this was the sent of home, of love... of mama. 

 

A pitiful whimper crawled out of his throat, Eric curled in tighter into himself and put his pressed his face in deeper. He fell asleep like that, whimpering with tears falling down in face, buried in the warmth of his pseudo mom warmth.

 

What no one saw, was the lone tear falling from Evelyns' right eye, the only eye that was not covered with wrappings, and how a light purple seemed to glow from the two on the bed. Soon the area around her had flowers of white bells and stems of purple star-shaped flowers, it was beautiful. The machinery, bed, and floor had flowers growing out them and the flowers seemed to not hinder the technology.

 

A transparent, purple figure appeared on the side of the bed, the side Eric was on. It-she was wearing a standard hospital gown and was covered in wrappings, her legs, feet, hands, neck, face, and head were covered in them. She smiled softly and brushed her hand against Erics' cheek in a loving manner, she leaned down and kissed his cheek and brushed his tears away. She faded away, leaving nothing but a Lilly of the valley and a purple hyacinth where she once stood.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm falling but I know I'm now, I don't know where I am or if I'm dead or alive. I... I feel sleepy but I know I have something tot do. What did I need to to? H-hello? Who's calling for me? I'm here! I'm here! Hell-


	20. Chapter 20: In my Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In my dreams I see bright red rose and I hear the shadows call

Where am I? 

 

Am I dead again?

 

Am I alive?

 

Am I in a safe place?

.

.

.

.

.

Am I in hell? 

 

I think numbly, my eyes shut as I took in the feeling of weighted warmth around me. I feel like I'm floating, lying on my back, as I stay still and helpless. ' I need to see, I need to know where I am... ' I think as I furrow my brows together and pinch my eye lips and slowly open them. as I looked around and see nothing but an inky nothingness, I can't help but think ' am I back at square one? was everything a dream? A false hope...? '.

 

' No...- ' I think as I take everything in ' - it's different... it's warm here, not like the cold void of the mirror ', I try to move but I feel like steel balls and I make no progress. 

 

it takes time but soon I lift my arms. The marks and blood from before they're gone, I looked down and saw I was in a white dress. It was off the shoulder and had short-puffy sleeves, it was long on me and went to my ankles as it floated with me. Floating in a sea of nothingness, as I look up or what I assume is ' up '. I see a faint, soft glow of _red_ , ' Celine...? ' I think as I try to move closer to the light. I try and reach out and touch the glowing red, I can't reach it and I can only feel the warmth of it on my fingertips. I find the strength in me and use my limps to move me closer, waving and kicking all I can and move at a snails past. 

 

The second I get my whole hand in the light, I am blinded by a familiar light, and I'm standing my flower field. The warm light, cool breeze and the smell of flowers, my dress sways softly in the wind as I look around. ' Where's Celine? ' I can't help but think, though we had bonded over small things and the likes of our boys. I knew the way I had left must have been... _something_. I had left her alone in the void of this hellish nightmare, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst of enemies. 

 

I remember feeling a sharp tug in the middle of my chest when I was talking with Celine, and then another sharper, pain-filled one. I heard the loud but faint voice of my Eric, and he sounded so  **_scared_ **. I paused in my words, the next sentence that was just beginning to aper stopped halfway. I sharply turned my head and started to run, the petals of flowers and some blades of grass shooting up in the air as I dashed. The feeling of fear and anger seizing my heart, using everything in me to try and find Eric, where he was and what was going on! 

 

I faintly heard Celine call after me and the fall of her footsteps, and when a mirror showed up and I saw my Baby- my little boy- my  **_child_ ** . On the ground,  _limp_  and  _unmoving_  as saw what I had known to be his shit work of a father, being restrained by two men that looked like him. Something in me snapped and all I felt was a cold rage, all I felt was this sense of protective rage and bloodlust.

 

I didn't even notice Celine's gasp as she looked at the mirror as I reared my right hand back and swung with all my might. The last thing I heard was her screaming my name as I saw a flash of white, them black and them I was standing in a living room. The rest is history.

 

I start walking as I looked around to see before I started to run, yelling her name hoping to catch her attention. As I ran I couldn't help but see a new plant as I ran in the fields, lavender(1). I stopped and kneeled down as I looked at the light purple herb, '...What..what are you doing here? ' I think softly. I didn't get to think long on this as I heard my name being called, I lifted my head and saw a familiar black dress.

 

Celine stood on top of a small hill, the light making a halo around her as I look at her with relief and happiness. <  Celine...  > I smile as I stand, I open my mouth as I try to say I'm sorry but am cut off as she hugs me. 

 

My face pushed into her chest as she trembles, Celine's hold getting a little lighter before she releases me. Her eyes sharp but wet with tears, " Where were you? " her tone was strong with emotions I thought I would never hear from her. <  I-I was... I actually don't know? I do k-know I saw Damien! And William, too!  > her face is full of shock before she pulls me down to the ground.

 

And so I retail my tale, of what and why I left so suddenly. Why she felt my anger and saw a person on the floor, why he was so important to me. As I neared the end of my story I stopped and looked at my hands and my white dress. " Evelyn...? " she said, I looked up and whimper out " And... I felt this pain, next thing I knew... I was on the floor... " I put my hands on the ground and grip the grass.

 

" Bleeding out... "

 

I looked at her as tears fall down my face, " I was  _there_ , I  _felt_ them, I was  _dying_ all over again. " I was already dead, I have  _been_ dead for the last  **_100 years_ ** . I didn't have a  **_body_ ** anymore, I gave that to Damien-but I  _saw_ him, I  _felt_ him,  _heard_  him like I had a  **body**  to hear with.

 

Why do I have a  _body_ ? Why was I  **_alive_ **? 

 

" Celine... C-Celine, why was I dying? I'm already dead- **WHY DID I HAVE A BODY?!?!?**  " I yell as I look to her for answers, she looked at me with something in her eyes. Pity? Envy? Happiness? Concern? They all flashed through her eyes that I could barely understand, Celine closed her eyes and sighed.

 

" I... thought-I didn't think it was possible... " she mutters, I feel my fear grow and more questions arise. ' What..? what does she mean? ' I think as I look at her as she opens her eyes, they are clear and full of knowledge and... curiosity. 

 

" I... had a theory, a passing thought, that I couldn't even execute but... " she looks into my eyes, " after everything you've told me, it looks like you... have a body now-that you're... " she grabs my face as she wipes my face.

 

"  **_Alive_ **. "

 

I feel myself freeze, a cold chill makes it way up my spine. I-I'm alive? I think of everything I did when I was alive back then, the sunlight on my skin, feeling of snow, the warmth of touches, the feeling of paper and fabrics under my fingers, the smells of flowers. I.. I could have that back? I could live again? 

 

Something in me cried with happiness, a feeling bloomed in my chest- I felt hope for the first time in  _years_.

 

But, I couldn't help but ask " H-how...? " as I took in her touch. Soft, warm, inviting, and familiar, that is what Celine's touch was like. I couldn't help but latch on to that feeling of familiarity, of the closest feeling I would get of togetherness. Of  **_home_ **.

 

As I lean into her hand, closing my eyes as I cry tears of happiness and grief. She says " It's because of the  _house_ \- of the  _void_ . ", everything comes to a screeching halt. That happiness turns to ash in my fingers and turns into a sludge of fear- of  **terror**. My eyes snap open, dark brown meeting brown with red specks. I stuttered out a reply and asked her to clarify what she meant, what the house had to do with me now having a body.

 

" This place, the void, the flower field- " Celine moves her hands away from me and grips the flora " -is raw energy-raw, unfiltered arcane  **_magic_ **  ". She looks up to me, looking at me with focused eyes that remind me of when she first appeared. " You were here for a hundred years, soaking in this raw magic. Evelyn, you have been taking in this potent magic and have been unknowingly shaping it  _your_ will. " 

 

" Evelyn- " she takes my hands as she continues " - since the moment I have woken up, I could feel the power you now possess. ". Then  _why_ ? Why couldn't I have left  _sooner_ ? Why couldn't I have done anything to  **help** ? Celine must have seen the conflict in my eyes as she says, " Magic is nothing without  _purpose_ -without  _intent_ , you are  _inexperienced_  and  _unknowing_ to your newfound abilities ". I go to open my mouth, to speak and tell her my thoughts but something happens. 

 

I feel funny, a haze comes over me and I feel a pull. Celine must feel something as well as she looks shocked, she goes to reach out to me but...  **_I'm gone_ **. I blinked and I was gone, the flower fields had turned into a black vale of nothingness. The warmth had turned cold and the soft wind whipped around me as it hissed and howled. 

 

<  H-hello?   > I called out as I stood up and wrapped my arms around myself, I hear a whisper- or I just hear something. I begin to call out but stay in place, with every passing second the whispers get more and more pronounced. <   Who's calling for me?? H-hello!-   > I turn as I continue to call out <  -I'm here! I'm right here! Hello-   > I turn and I see a sea of faint,  _faceless_ bodies. Fear runs through my body like a lightning bolt, it fries my nerves and leaves me with a pounding chest. 

 

There are millions of them, standing close together in a crowd. There are so many of them, so many faces that were covered with...  _flowers_. The whispers went silent, as I took in the figures around me. Young, old, tall and short, they were all different but held flowers as their faces. Some colors were mute and dull with soft blues and purples, others were loud and bold red, orange, and yellow.

 

The silence lasts for only so long and soon the whispers, the talking, and shouting, sharts up once more. Hearing all of these voice mixing, and mingling together, it makes my head split.

 

**" Help-save-hurt-stop! "**

 

**" The one-child-young one- "**

 

**" How-help?-demon-us-please "**

 

I fall to my knees and grip my head, this is all too much! I can't understand any of them! I don't know who they are or what they want!  _Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-_

 

"  **_PLEASE STOP!_ ** " 

 

I cry out as I lift my head t took at them all, this too much! It's too loud-I can't even  **THINK** or  **_BREATH_ **. I felt my muscles shake under my skin, the tears welling up and the pressure in my head. The figures stopped their whispering and took a few steps back as if to give me space, but one figure stayed in place. 

 

They were a young boy, small and was wearing nice clothing. A white button-up, tan slacks, his skin was pale and his hair was a deep brown. His face was covered with white daisies(2), and bright yellow buttercups(3)- the picture of childhood innocence. 

 

He walked closer and stood before my trembling form, and held his hand out with a joyful giggle. Once again I felt a nudge in the back of my mind and a tingle on my skin, a young slightly accented voice called out to me. 

 

"  **Hello! Hello, new? Who you? What name?** " 

 

The grammar... wasn't the best but it warmed my heart, and also hurt it, to hear such a young and lively voice. I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and grabbed his hand with mine in a lose hold. " Hello, little one... " I said softly as I used my voice " I'm Evelyn, what's your name? " I asked, it was the right thing to ask as I could feel the air around him brighten and I saw him rock on his heels as he answered me.

 

"  **Samuel!** " 

 

I smile and say " Hello Sammy- " he giggles in my head with glee " -it's very nice to meet you..." I look at him as he sways and then glances behind him. I still see the sea of people and I know I'm still surrounded by them, " Sammy... whats going on? " I look at his sitting form " Who are you people? "

 

A low murmur could be heard as they overheard my question, Sammy looked at them as if hearing what they had to say and turned back to me.

 

 **" Old- old prey of home, victim before you and others. "** My eyes watered as I took it in, Sammy was so  _young_ -so small and  **innocent** . Did this demon not know  _compassion_? I look at my hands and think of that night and the day after, ' No, no it doesn't. ' I take a deep breath. " Then why am I here? " 

 

**" Help us, free us... avenge us "**

 

Sam says as he points to me and then everyone else, I look around confused " H-how? I'm only one person... ". It wasn't like I  _didn't_ want too, I  _wanted_ to help- I wanted to  **_help_ ** them. I just didn't know how I could, I'm just  _me_ . The  **_stupid_ ** little girl who didn't know how to keep her own heart in check, a  _stupid_ ,  _dumb_ ,  _naive_ **_little girl_ **.

 

Then a feminine voice spoke, clear and powerful with authority. It was plummy, posh and high-class sounding, silvery and thick with emotion. She was tall and wore a long elegant dress of champagne with flowers of Iris(4) and Hydrangeas(5), her hair was up and a dark brown, her skin pale.

 

**_" Be there, be a guiding hand and make them see the truth. "_ **

 

I see that the crowd of people had once more have come back into their formation as they reached out their hands like I was a being of mercy. I look at Sammy and saw he too was holding his hands out.

 

 _ **" Deliver us from this pain and suffering, free us from this never ending nightmare... and save us all. "**_

 

I look at all of these lost souls, I looked hard and long at all of them and saw that they all shook and their hands quivered as they waited. They were scared and they were tried from being like this for god knows how long, I wasn't one to let people suffer meaninglessly but I had but one last question.

 

" Why now? " I asked softly, the voice responds with a softness like she could understand my question.

 

**_"... because it is weakening and it is getting desperate to have control over us once more. "_ **

 

I-it's weakening? This fucking nightmare is weakening, " Why..? " I look at her for answers. Her head tilts and she holds her hands out, I grab it, she pulls me up and cradles my face. Her hands are cold and faint but there's a warmth- a hope in them.

 

**_" Because of you, my dear, you have fought this demon at every turn and come out victorious... you have done what many of us could only dream of. "_ **

 

Her hold shakes and her voice becomes wobbly as I see tears fall from her face.

 

**_" You are free, have escaped from its clutches. "_ **

 

My eyes widen, I- I never thought of it like that, I think I finally understood. Maybe not truly why they have trusted me with this but I can begin to.

 

**_" Will you... will you help us, child? "_ **

 

I nod and then I'm pulled into a tight hug by this woman, when I'm released I see everyone around us slowly fade away. It's slow and it starts at their feet and the flowers start to fall and show their faces. 

 

Their faces are... they're pulled in the brightest smiles, they're full of hope and happiness- of relief that this nightmare will end. I look for Sammy, the daisies and buttercups fall to reveal the brightest blue eyes with bright pink cheeks and a smile that went ear to ear was pointed to me. He giggled in my head as he waved innocently at me.

 

**" Bye, bye! Evelyn be good girl? "**

 

I tear up at the light-hearted goodbye and nod, I see one more smile before he disappears completely. I turn to the women to see her look at me softly, she was so pretty with amber eyes and full lashed, she pecked my forehead before she too faded. 

 

I stood in an empty void, looking ahead with a mind full of questions and a heart heavy with emotions. I wipe some of my tears before I see out of the corner of my eye, I turn and I see two people. 

 

They stand close together and have similar colored flowers, a man and a woman, both of their hair are gray with age. The lady's face held pink carnations(6) and orange blossoms(7), the man's face had red roses(8) and gladiolus(9). 

 

" H-hello...? " I said as I looked at them, the woman came forward slowly and reached for my hands. Her hands were old and wrinkled and spotted with age marks, but this did little to take away from the elegance of them. As she stood and simply held my hands in her firm grip, the man came forward as well and stood next to her as he rested his right hand on her shoulder. I was a little unnerved but it was swiftly banished by the woman's motherly feeling.

 

**" You are going to help us? "**

 

I nod with a tight lipid expression on my face, I was- I _will_ help them. I took an oath to **help** people- to give them justice, and that's what I'm going to do.

 

" Yes, ma' ma... I will " 

 

I heard her sigh as her hands slowly let go of mine and moved to my face, tipping it to she could look at me. The mans' hold on her shoulder tightened, she nodded. 

 

 **" Good, good. "** her thumb swept on my cheek, I closed my eyes and leaned into it slightly. When was the last time I had such a motherly touch? A touch that didn't end with tragedy? I-I don't know, I can barely remember my own mothers' touch. I just know it was something similar to this, soft and full of care and warmth.

 

**" Just one more thing deary... "**

 

I open my eyes and saw the flowers begin to fall from her and the mans' face, her face round and soft. Her eyes were... familiar in shape and color. The mans' face was long and angular, with a proud mustache on his face. 

 

My eyes widen, I-I knew these features! I remember looking into the same colored eyes and holding the same face shape. I open my mouth to say something but I was pushed and fell into what felt like water once more. As the dark waters began to lighten and turn to gray and then white, then blue. 

 

I couldn't help the tears that left my eyes and became one with the water around me as I sank deeper and deeper into the unknown. I held the crescent moon necklace as my lips trembled, I clenched my eyes shut and thought.

 

' I will, I promise you, I will! '

.

.

.

.

.

.

**" Take care of our boys, will you? Take care of Mark and William for me and my husband. "**

 

 

* * *

 

 

As Evelyn descends, in a flower field a woman sits and holds a flower crown. Celine feels Evelyn become fainter and fainter as the seconds' pass, she can barely feel Evelyn now.

 

The Seer can't help but feel envy at the thought of the Da being free, being out there with her twin and old lovers. But, she knew that out of the two of them, Evelyn deserved it more than she did. 

 

Celine placed the flower crown on her head as she whispers with tears welling up in her deep red eyes.

 

" Take care of him... " 

 

 

* * *

 

 

In a white room with a single bed and medical equipment that had flowers of white and purple growing out of them, there was a limp and unmoving body of a small woman.

 

She was wrapped head to toe in stark white bandages and dressed in a hospital gown. Her black hair flared out from the gauzes on her head that took of most of her face, leaving only her mouth, nose and right eye to be seen, striking the fluffy white pillow below her head. Her skin was tan but pale from the lack of sun and natural light as she stayed indoors. The flowers around her being the only color around her.

 

When the doctor had first come in and saw the flowers, he had a heart attack and tried to remove them with the help of some droids. It didn't work and when he saw they posed no threat to the condition of his charge, he simply left them alone.

 

The door opened and a man with pink hair and a messily buttoned-up yellow shirt walked in, in his arms were some folded clothing. He was pale looking and had a faraway look in his dark pink eyes, he looked up and showed his face to be thinner than it was before. Showing that he had been eating less than recommended, this man was Willford. 

 

He was silent as he took in the scenery before him, she- the Da, Evelyn- looked so serene and peaceful as she laid there. Wilford sighed and walked over to her bed, pulling the blanket away from her body and only revealing more bandages on her body. His lips trembled as he put the bundle of clothing to the side table. 

 

It was a simple white button-up that was much too large for her, Darks' , a pair of yellow and pink striped boxers that would act as shorts, Will, and some fuzzy orange socks, Eric. 

 

As Will slowly and carefully removed the gown from her body, he couldn't help but take in all of the wrappings on her body. Wilford's' eyes zeroed in on the one her abdomen, the area where...where he shot her. 

 

His eyes watered and his grip shook as he continued with his task, he was so so sorry. He didn't mean to hurt her- it was an ** _accident_** , he _swears_!

 

Wilford's touches were soft and full of grief and sadness as he slipped in the clothing to Evelyns' body. It felt wrong to let her lay there in an uncomfortable piece of clothing, he, along with the other two, felt like she should have some piece of familiarity if she woke up.

 

Will was done in due time but lingered as he caressed her face, the bandages did little to take away from her youthful looks. Somehow, that hurt even more, she looked like a child playing dress-up. The bed was too big for her, it was made to fit one of them and not a small lady, and so was the clothing.

 

He whispered another '  _I'm sorry_ ' with a broken voice before turning around and walking out the door with a heavy heart. If only he had stayed a second longer, he would see something that would have lifted his spirits.

 

The bell-shaped flowers swung back and forth as the star-shaped seemed to straighten, the woman's' right eye twitched and slowly opened. There her eye that was once a blank white, was a familiar dark brown with the pupil a bright purple that seemed to spread into the brown. Her mind was hazy and full of fuzz as she thought out a single thought before she faded out once more and went into a dreamless sleep.

 

'... Hello? '

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spoke to the red roses and I heard what the shadows had to say, they call to me for relief and justice but I don't know how. I know what they say but I don't understand what they mean.  
> \--------------------------------------------------------  
> Hey~ sorry this took so long! after this we'll be having normal ending notes from now on, I want to take this time to apologize and explain on why this took so long. I had a really bad case of writers block when it came to this chapter and to certain parts of it too, once again sorry.  
> Lavender: Devotion, Love  
> White daisies: Innocence  
> Buttercups: Childishness  
> Pink Carnations: mother like love  
> Orange Blossoms:purity, innocence, accosted with brides  
> Red Rose: national flower for fathers day  
> Gladiolus: strength


	21. Chapter 21: Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't you hear the bells? Their ringing, she's here! She's waking up!

 

After I got pushed by Marks' and Williams' parents into the void once more, I felt different than last time. It was hard to explain, but it wasn't cold or warm- it was something new and I didn't know how to feel about it.

 

There were so many things that have happened, I was feeling so many things. Some emotions I knew, others I didn't. 

 

Fear

Happiness

Excitement

Joy

Anxiety

Pride

Hope

Sadness

Rage 

 

But, there was one thing I felt right now. Tired, I was so  _tired_ \- of what? I don't know. But I just wanna... close my eyes. 

 

I curl up as I sink lower and lower in the water, my dress fluttering and my hair fanning around my face. My hold on the necklace my Stars gave me tighten before I close my eyes and smile softly. I feel something in me pull and nudge me in my head as I fade faster and faster out of consciousness.

 

I don't know why, but something told me that... I was going  _home_  soon. I was going to see my _boys_ soon. I feel myself tear up at seeing them again.

 

' See you soon... ' 

 

 

* * *

 

 

I walk into the clinic and look at my patient, she was the same as the day before and the day before that. She's in different clothing but I didn't worry, I knew Wilford had come in during his time and changed her clothing. 

 

I walk over to the cot and pick up the clipboard as I do the normal checkup, it was so strange to see a case like hers. Her wounds were more than life-threating, how long she was in a coma and how little had changed during it, how fast she had healed and then how all the progress had stopped. Along with the fact, _Wilford_ and _Dark_ of all people were heavily affected by her condition. Eric was also a big surprise but hearing what he called her in his panic had cleared that up fast, though that did not make it any less shocking. 

 

 I was done in a few minutes and I looked at her face, her breathing mask and feeding tube securely staying on her face despite me shifting her a few times to check on the wires.

 

Before she had a breathing tube but that was taken out it was taken out a few months after the collaboration of me and Dr. Schneeplestein along with Marvin. Once again show how important this mystery woman was to Dark of all people to ask for help without a second thought- not only asking for help, but asking help from a  _Septic_.

 

Most of the others had no problem with the septic household, but Dark and Antis pettiness knew no bounds. Dark was fine with the others but he was more than reluctant to ask help and from the same house, the one his rival was from. It was surprising how fast he through his pride out the window.

 

As I looked at Flowers chart( something me and the others had taken up to call her, as Dark and the other two would not tell us her name )and updating it according, I still can't believe it had been a full _year and a half_  since that incident in the living room. It all happened so fast.

 

Eric rushing out of the recording room, Derek rushing after him with a bruised cheek, and then all the yelling. Eric standing for himself, yelling right back and unleashing all his emotions. Learning the truth of his and his father's relationship. Derek hitting and beating Eric in front of us all before he could be restrained. Eric passing out on the floor and then...  **_HER_ **.

 

Standing in the mirror in a field of white and purple flowers, like some dream turned nightmare. The shattering glass as the world came to a screeching halt, she had an air of power and authority as she stalked that I could only pit against Dark. But, she was so gentle with Eric- so gentle and protective of him now that I think of it.

 

Then when she looked at his bruised and bloody face, this anger filled the air and I-I was shaking in my own skin. The weaker egos were on the floor, gasping silently as they looked at her. Then Derek and Eric had a heart to heart, Derek leaving in shame, we heard a voice yell and saw Dark run.

 

Wilford's confrontation- then the blood. Oh god, there was so much blood, it stained his and Eric's clothing like some branding as they weep and screamed. Dark coming back as he too started to weep and cry, I had rushed off to the operation room when I saw she was fading.

 

I sigh as I look at her, sleeping with a peaceful expression as the machinery hummed and whirled. Her condition was a mystery and a miracle, I knew that was something more than off about her. Her ties with Dark, Wilford, and Eric to start, Eric could excuse as it was fairly obvious of who she was to him.

 

But, Flowers's connection to Dark and Wilford could not. It was easy to see how she affected them, despite her not being awake she had them wrapped around her finger. At her beck and call, I knew that if she was to wake up and she asked for something.

 

They would get it without a thought.

 

Time passed at a snail's pace, it dragged on for what felt like forever. Most of the others had quieted down after Flowers debut, which included Dark, Will, and Eric. Things had changed in the year and a half since Flowers's presence had become a constant in the manor. 

 

Dark was much more solemn and distant, more often than not he spent his time in his office, a meeting room, his room or the clinic to spend time with her. He kept a tight hold on the business front of Ego.Inc but other than that he had become lax. Dark still had the air of power but it was dulled, overshadowed you might say, by the faint but heavy feeling of grief and regret you would feel around him. It was easy to see when he was upset but other than that he was a wall.

 

Wilford had seemed to bounce back to his happy, erratic, loud self and you would think he would have with all of that trick he's pulled. But, it was his eyes that told a different story. They had bags under them, maybe it was from his sleepless nights where he would wander the house or it was from the nightmare where a scream would rip through the night. A scream full of pain and loss, as he tossed and turned in bed, arms reached out like he was trying to catch something-some one. Someone he didn't catch and he cried for that loss. In those pink eyes of his, you would see clarity and regret, and grief. Maybe it had to do with his saying " I remember " to flower, maybe it had to do with something else entirely. Who knows? But his eyes were different and so was he. He too had taken his time to the clinch, his studio more often than not. Will spent most of his time in those areas but he did go out and such. He's gotten his appetite back after Dark cornering him in an office room, what they spoke about? None of us knew but there was a yelling match before the quite and Wilford began to eat.

 

Eric also got a little better with his appetite, eating more and more and going outside in the garden to soak up some sun. Getting back his tan skin, he started to slowly stop trapping himself in his room and start interacting with the others again. Yan and Bing were more than happy about that. But, it was clear something was holding him back from fully healing. It was the way he looked in mirrors when he thought no one was looking, whispering to them and waiting for a reply. How he always hand a small but elegant compact mirror in his hands with his yellow handkerchief. Eric didn't talk as much, almost becoming mute but when he spoke, he only spoke in whispers. His stutter had grown but his tone was dull.

 

And, I look to her, she too was not forgotten by the hands of time. Her hair had gotten long to where it touches her elbows, her skin still tan, but her muscle had deteriorated slightly from lack of use. If she woke up, I sigh, it would take some work for her do most things again. I look up as I hear a beep and see I'm being called, I read the message and close my eyes.

 

" I thought I told Silver to stop doing this crap... " I shook my head and pat Flowers arm softly, " I'll be right back, looks like our hero had gotten himself hurt again... for the third time in a row- " I look at the clock "- but you won't be alone for long, it's about time for visiting hours and you know how they are." I smile. " Never leaving you alone... wounder what you mean to them, let's hope you wake up soon and answer all my questions. 

 

I walk out to help Silver with his injuries as I think ' You're  _not_  dying... ' and I smile.

 

 

* * *

 

 

As Evelyn laid still and peacefully as time ticked on around her, fading in and out of shorts burst of consciousness. The first time she had opened time was right after she had closed her eyes in the water, all she was was a white ceiling and felt cotton in her skin, along with an uncomfortable feeling on her face and in her nose. Evelyn knew she had a thought but she couldn't even remember that was, she did was the voices that came slowly from the edges of her mind. 

 

You see, while Evelyn herself was not truly in her body, the body was in fact fully functioning. The healing process was a slow one but not as slowly as it would have been if it did not have the magic and energy from the void. Though slowly, it took in all the sounds around it- and by proxy all of the things that were said to her in her time away. It was a slow trickle of voices. The things she heard, it made her want to cry out, to scream, to counsel her boys as they lamented to her about their worries and fears and regrets.

 

 

**It feels as if time hasn't passed**

 

_I feel stuck and everyone is moving without me_

 

_**Why don't you wake up** _

 

**You don't deserve this-you never deserved this**

 

**_Please answer me!_ **

 

**This is my fault**

 

_Are you even listening?_

 

_It hurts so much, I can't help but think about you_

 

**_I don't like this...I don't like this at all_ **

 

**_I didn't mean it, I'm sorry_ **

 

**I deserve to rot for what I did to you**

 

_You promised_

 

**I don't want to fall asleep...**

 

**_... I'm scared of what I'll see_ **

 

_**I watch you fall- I shot you!... I don't understand anything but I'm sorry!** _

 

_PLEASE! ANSWER ME!_

 

**I use to think I didn't deserve you in my life, now I know it's true**

 

_It hurts so much, what if this doesn't get better-what if you don't get better mom!?!_

 

**_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry ,I'm sorry-I'm so fucking sorry for what I did to you_ **

 

**I can't go through this again-I can't live with you here but you're not here. Please! Wake up!**

 

These words fueled her to wake up- pushed her to open her eyes. Then she left the feel of cotton on her fingers and skin, the softness of a pillow, warmth of her body and the chill of the room. Her chest rise and falling, the heaviness of her body, the sourness of it. The rough texture of bandages, the cold air in her lungs. The cotton feeling in her mouth, faint brushes of petals and leaves and stems on her face, arms, and body.

 

The sounds of beeping and whirling is next, her own breath as soft as it is, her heartbeat thumping in her chest, the sound of the air con, the deafening silence.

 

The air was stale on her tongue, there was a foul taste in her mouth. It was a feeling and taste one would have after a long nap. There was also a floral taste like you walked into a garden with your mouth open, talking in the taste of the perfume of flowers.

 

A scent of cleanness was sharp and harsh on Evelyns' nose, antiseptic and cleaner was an overbearing smell but there was also lavender, the scent of flowers was so fresh and near it made her think of her field. 

 

Then her eyelids feel weightless, and her right eye flutters open as the lily of the valleys swing back and forth as they chime and ring. The hyacinth straightens up and seems to grow even more vibrant and bloom even more. A soft purple light seems to emanate from Evelyn's body and lifts before disappearing in particles. 

 

A bright purple eye opened to see the white ceiling just as the doctor walked in.

 

 

* * *

 

 

As I felt my senses come back to me one by one and I opened my one eye, I felt tears run down my face. I couldn't open my other eye, I was sore, my everything felt like lead, I didn't know where I was- but I didn't care. I was here for real, I was here. A whimper broke out of my mouth as I open and close it to breathe. My fingers twitched before curling into the blanket, shaking and unsure.

 

I hear a gasp and then running to my side, I flinch but turn to my left so I could see. I see the face of that man the helped my Eric and relaxed a little, I saw his mouth move but I didn't hear a thing. It was like I had cotton in my ears and the only thing I could hear was the beeping of the machines around me. I felt him poke and prod at me but I let it be, as I got lost in the feeling of being touched by someone. I hear him say something and I hear it clearly, " Google call Dark, tell him its an _emergency_ \- **hell** call all _three_ of them! ".

 

I must have made a noise because he looked down at me and put the phone down, looking me over once more before talking. " Hello, I'm Dr.iplier and you're not dying- " I blink at that " - let me get these wries and tubes of yours. " 

 

And so the tube from my nose and the mask along with a few other things were removed, and now sitting up. I had a clip like thing on my left pointer finger, the IV still on me and only two wries on me now. It was strange I think as I look at my hands, covered in white cloth, look at my clothing and pull it tighter to my body as I smell a familiar scent. 

 

As I did that and looked at the wall, touching the petals of the flowers around me as I sit in silence. Dr.iplier had left to do something, ' telling the others ' he said as he did a second check-up. It was strange, this Dr.iplier having a similar face to my boys but I didn't question it, I was friends with Damien and Mark for some time. It was normal to see the differences. 

 

A loud bang of a slamming door snapping me out of my head as I jumped in my skin and whipped around to see a figure there standing as I start to weep.

 

Dark hair that was messy but classily tossed to the side, a black suit that was slightly disheveled, a long angular face, grayscale skin, and those eyes I knew anywhere. They were different, yes, but they were also the same where it counted. They were more narrow, hodded and seemed to have bags under them, there was a sharpness and a chill there but the warmth was there. Those eyes that were once a beautiful bright blue were now an equally bright red and icy blue, there were so many things in those eyes. 

 

He walked forward, each step echoing and shaking, his eyes never leaving me as he continued, his breathing ragged and not before long. He stood before me, with a pained gleam in his eyes.

 

" Damien...? " 

 

I whisper faintly, so softly that I fear the sound around me had swallowed the words and left me with nothing. Starlight flinched back like I had struck him, the pain in his eyes grew even more. I saw him struggle to swallow and his breathing becomes more labored as his eyes seem to dim with the tears. They don't fall, they sit in his eyes as he looks at me. 

 

" I-it...it's you _right_? Right, it's you Dams? " 

 

My voice, it hurts and it's uneven as I talk. My lips shake and my throat is dry and aching for me to stop, I don't. I need to know. He shook more and more as the words leave my mouth, his voice is thick and tight as he answers me. 

 

" It's me, It's... it's _Damien_.. it's Dams, it's Starlight " 

 

They finally fall as my Damien reaches out to hold me but stops, like he's scared of touching me. 

 

" Can-can I touch you? "

 

I smile, ' always the gentlemen ' I think faintly, I take his hands as they tremble in my hold and I put them on my face. I close my eye and melt in this hold, his hands are cold and have gotten calloused from the last time I've felt them. But it the hold was the same, faint but full of feeling and reverence. 

 

I feel the soft fall of tears on my face, I open my eye and see Damien's face above mine as he finally cries. His tears fell like rain as they hit my face, his eyes clenched shut as he weeps. His forehead touched mine with a longing for something I wouldn't know, his hands then grabbed for mine as he fell to his knees.

 

" Hello, Damien. " he flinches at the name, I frown and lift his face to mine, " D-do you not want me to call you that? " I ask with a frown. He was different and I know time as past since that night- I mean look at William! I don't know what happened but I had an inkling on why he was the way he was, but the point still stands. He had changed and so had the Colonel, he went by a different name. And, I don't know if Damien had done the same,

 

" No, it's fine. It's just been a long time since I've heard anyone call me that. " my brows pinch together " Then-then what should I call you? ". He takes my left hand and puts it on his face, I put my right on his neck and I use my thumb to caress his cheek, put his left on my right hip and whispers to me like he's a sinner asking for sanctuary and I'm the god. 

 

" Just call me Damien for now, call me Starlight and all those s-stupid nicknames you use to... I'm so **_sorry_ **darling, I'm so sorry.-forgive me.. "

 

I smile and nod at him, " You can't be forgiven for something I have already made amends with. ". Damien sags in my hands and the door burst open again, I look up and smile as I see the Colonel and my Eric. 

 

Damien stands and moves my left hand to his to squeeze it before letting go as they walk in. I wipe my tears as I watch them walk to me, I wave at them when they get close to the bed and Damien stands in the corner.

 

" Hi, baby. " and Eric crumbles into my outstretched arms, he cries and shakes and lays bear before me as I hold him close. He's crawled onto the bed, some of the flowers crushed under him but I pay it no mind, I rock him softly as I card my hands throw his hair. I open my eye and turn to the man next to my bed as he watches us, my smile shakes and eyes turn more glassy as I look into his eyes.

 

His eyes are now a dark pink that swirls faintly with yellow and sparks of familiar dark brown, his face still as I remember it and so similar to Marks that another tear falls. His hair was messy still had pink in it and his mustache was still an bright shade of pink. There was a longing much like Damiens', a longing and a pain.

 

" Hello, Colonel- " grief flashed through his eyes " -ah! I guess I should call you Wilford now, yes? " I reach my left hand out towards him with an apologetic smile. He hesitates for a moment but he grabs my hand all the same, his hands are rough and calloused from the war and handling weapons but they hold me like I'm glass, he gives me a small smile of his own.

 

" Yes, but, you bully can call me William as well. " He takes my hands and kisses it. I look at him, Eric and then Damien, my shoulder slump but my spirit is high as I say.

 

" I've missed you all so much. " 

 

And that is how I spend my day, in a room with my boys and somehow managed to get them all on the bed. It was a tight fit but we fit, it was funny, trying to fit and not mess with my wries and be comfy. I lay in the middle and Eric laying on my lower half as hugging me still, William on my right on his side as he too hugged me and Damien on the left also on his side as he simply held my hand. 

 

I didn't talk the rest of the time, my throat calling it quits and giving up on me. I'm surprised it let me talk for so long with my injury to it, so I answered all of them with hummus of varying lengths and feelings. William and Eric had fallen asleep with only me and Damien awake, laying in comfortable silence. I tighten my grip on his hand and turn my head slightly to look at him, he hums and waits for me to say something. I couldn't do that so I did what I use to do, I made the words appear. 

 

<  Damien... you don't go by that name anymore, do you?  > 

 

The words show in front of his face, I felt him jump before he relaxed and he sighed. " No, I don't and I haven't been called Damien for a long time that I forgot what it was like to be called that name. ", I look at him in the eyes and give him a shy smile as I hold his hand. 

 

<  Then what should I call you?  >

 

Hid hand shakes a little, " Dark, you can call me Dark when we're out in public-but please, call me **_Damien_**. I miss it, I miss being Damien. ". I keep my hold firm as I bring his hand up to my lips and give it a small kiss like I used to, I nod as get pulled closer to Damien-to Dark as he hugs me. 

 

<  Okay, but you never **stopped** being Damien-you'll always be Damien to me. Okay?  > 

 

He whispers a shaky " Okay " and I fall asleep, this time I know I'll wake up the next day. That I'll see the sun and my boys-even if it's not all of them here. I know I'll be here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry this took so long, I got...sidetracked. Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter and you know the drill! Question, comments, and so one go down below! See you guys in the next chapter!


	22. Chapter 22: New soul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few egos meet Evelyn

 

Two weeks after Evelyns' awaking, the other ipliers were treated with a strange sight. The egos all whispered and shrugged as they watched Dark walk with the mysterious women they all called ' Flower ' on his back. Darks' face was the same, blank and serious but they all could see the joy and soft light of life in his eyes that seemed to dance as he carried her. 

 

She was small and had her eyes closed as she tucked her head into Darks' neck and shoulders, her long black hair was put in a braid that had a bright orange hair ribbon and dressed in a big blue sweater with a long black skirt that had little white flowers on it. Flowers' feet had no shoes but had light pink socks. Her skin was slowly gaining back its color but it had scars, there wasn't a lot but the ones that were there were quite prominent. There was one on her neck that was easy to see and one on her face on her left eye that was less prominent but not invisible.

 

Every day she was with either Dark, Wilford, Eric or sometimes Dr.iplier thought those were rare days and usually check-ups or therapy sessions. For the first days, she rode on Dark and Wills backs but when it was Erics' turn she was in a wheelchair. Dark and Will just wanted to hold her, She didn't interact with the other egos that much. Mostly seeing the before mentioned men and Google(s), but when she did it was a nice encounter. 

 

* * *

 

I was walking to the living room after a long day of recording, I sigh and rub my eyes. It was a.. tiring day at work, so many things went rogue and wrong-don't get me wrong! I love my job, I love being a game show host and being THE Bim Trimmer. But, it gets tough and hard. Today was an example of that.

 

But, it was good to be home and have some time to relax. As I turn the corner and see the edge of the black couch, I nearly trip as I blink and see a lone woman sitting there. 

 

She was reading a book with a black cover ( The princess saves herself in this one ), she was wearing a large yellow cardigan that punched up at her elbows and her hands, a white T-shirt that was also big for her, loose black sweat, and light pink socks. Her long black hair was in a loose bun with strands of her hair free and on her face, a pair of silver glasses resting on the bridge of her nose. She was small with tan skin, her face youthful and round. 

 

She was the mysterious woman, Flower

 

She lifted her head, probably hearing me almost tripping, and I see the faint scars on her face and neck. Her eyes are big and round as they look at me with the look of surprise in her purple eyes, and then she waves at me. A small smile on her face as she greets me. I wave back at her after a moment of hesitation, it seemed rude not too and she looked like she meant no harm.

 

" Hello there, I'm Bim Trimer. Who are you? " I ask as I make my way to the couch, she goes to open her mouth but stops and waves her hand as I sit down. Only to almost jump off the couch as words appear in front of me.

 

< Hello, Call me Evelyn. It's nice to meet you, Bim. >

 

I let out a startled chuckle before I clear my throat as Flower- _ Evelyn  _ smirks with a raised brow and a tilt of her head. " I-interesting trick you have there, Evelyn. " I said with embarrassment, she nods her head in my direction and puts down her book and leaned down with her elbows on her knees. 

 

< Now, what's got you all stressed? >

 

I look at the words for a second longer before I look at her, I weigh the pros and cons. She's a stranger but she looks genuinely curious and it's not like I'm telling her anything bad or secret. 

 

I sigh as I feel all of the stress and tension from today return, I look at her one more time and take a leap of faith. It's always to talk about your problems, or so I hear. 

 

So we talk and talk and talk some more, it was nice talking to someone who wasn't an ego like me. Evelyn laughed at the stories I told and gave me her full attention, she gave me solid advice on some performance issues and how to get my point across with my coworkers. Soon we were both talking with big grins on our faces, Evelyns eyes sparkled with mischief as she told me some of her tales, of how this one man thought he could outsmart and degrade her only to get himself humiliated and shamed. But, we were interrupted as Wilford came bouncing into the living room but stopping at what he saw.

 

" Ah! Bimmy! Good to see you, working hard or hardly working? " He said as he wiggled his brows, Evelyn snorted but gave him a look. I wave off his comment off and said " Good to see you too Will, works good but it's work. You? " he grinned and walked towards Evelyn with a pep in his step. And picked her up like she weighed nothing, her yellow cardigan flying up as she made a nose of surprise but soon smiled wide. She lightly hit the back of his head from her spot on his right shoulder. 

 

< Will! Warn a gal next time, will ya? >

 

Wilford gave her a big grin and nodded " Crystal clear, sugar cube! See ya, Bimmy! Gotta take gumdrop to the Doc! See ya! " He turned and dashed away as Evelyn gave me a quick wave goodbye before turning her attention to Will.

 

I get up from the couch and stretched, I turn and head for the kitchen as I realized how hungry I was. As I rummage through the fridge, I can't help but think about how funny Evelyn was. 

 

* * *

 

I walk into the clinic with a limp as I hold my side, my silver super suit was bunchy and had some tears with some specks of red and black. My mask was still on my head but was slightly uncomfortable as it sat weirdly on my face, I was looking down as I walking passed the door. When I looked up I almost yelled as I saw the mystery lady! 

 

She was just sitting in on the second bed as she looked at me with a confused face, as she looked at me I did the same. She was... smaller than I thought she'd be and more normal. I thought she'd be scary like Dark or crazy like Will, but she was so normal and looked like a civilian.

 

I heard a snap of fingers before some words appeared in front of my hunched figure.

 

< Hey, come sit down. You're hurt and you shouldn't be putting so much weight on your injuries. > 

 

If it wasn't for Bim telling some of us if we meet the mysterious lady and how she talks, I would have used my powers in surprise. I still jumped though. I nodded and walked to her and she patted the spot next to her with a concerned face on. 

 

" Superhero: Silver shepherd it's nice to meet you, Miss Flower. " 

 

she tilted her head as she snapped her fingers again < Flower...? >, I nodded as I got a little nervous again. She may not look at obviously scary or crazy as Dark and Wilford but she had a really big influence on them. I don't wanna think about what would happen in I made her upset.

 

" Y-yeah! That's what everyone calls you, Dark and Will never told us your name and Eric didn't look so good. So... we just call you Flower because ya know? The flowers that showed up when you were asleep and stuff... "

 

She looked at the wall with her bright purple eyes shining with questions, I took a better look at her. 

 

Her hair was long, black and it landed loosely as it reached down with the ends lightly touching the bed, she was wearing a thick black turtle neck, a pink sweater on top that differently Wills from the bubble gum sent on it and a silver upside down necklace on. Black wide-legged pants with white socks and grey fuzzy slippers on.

 

When I looked at her face, she was nodding < Hehe, that's fair! >. I nodded as my shoulders at that, < You said superhero, right? > I nod as I grin. Her eyes look at me, wide with amazement and awe, " Yup! ".

 

She looks at my suit and my injuries and frowns, < You got those from some bad guys, huh? > I nod " and some little mishaps, where _is_ doc anyway? I kinda came to see him about my injuries... " I look at Flower.

 

< I believe he went out for a minute, something about the supplies and taking the Googles about it. > She replied with a wry smile, < You missed him by a minute. > I snap my finger, " Gosh! Guess I'll wait here then... and I had to meet with Jackie soon " I mumbled. 

 

She heard me and tapped my arm lightly, < I can help, I know my way around a few scraps and injures. You want me to help? > I nodded. She was offering and I was on a time crunch, so why the hell not? 

 

< Nice! can you grab the first aid kit and the hydrogen peroxide? it right over there. > she points to the small chair that was about a good 6 feet, I go and grab it. She smiles brightly < Thanks, I'd get it but my legs... anyway show me where it hurts and where you think there could be some scraps. >.

 

And for a good 10 minutes, she worked on me. Taking great care not to hurt me and get ever cut and bruise. < Okay! That looks like everything if you feel anything wrong come back and Dr.iplier should be here. >

 

I stand up and I feel better, not pain and everything looks good. I nod at her " Thanks a million- "I pause as I realize I never got her name, I look at her ad let out a nervous laugh.

 

< Evelyn, and don't worry about it, Silver. It's the right thing to do > I nod at her and speed of, going to me and Jackies spot. 

 

' Miss Evelyn is nice '

 

* * *

 

 

I walk slowly to the gaming room as wipe my black oil tears, gosh. What those dudes said were so uncool! I get I'm not human but I still feel! I walk in and sit on a bright orange bean bag as I drop my head back with my eyes closed. I just lay there for a bit in the silence before I feel a tap on my shoulder, I feel it again and I take my arm away from my eyes and lookup.

 

I see bright purple eyes that glow from the shadow and long strands of dark hair, a scar on the right eye with a concerned frown. I star in shocked silence before I yell " FLOWER?!?!? " shot upright, just missing her head as I turn to look at her. 

 

Black hair in a half-up, half-down hairstyle, black sweater and black swear pants with pink socks and grey slippers. Silver glasses with purple eyes and a silver necklace.

 

She had an amused look on her face and nods < Thats what everyone calls me, but I much prefer Evelyn. You? >, I open and close my mouth a few times before I clear my throat. " S-sup! I'm Bing and its great to meet you! " I say with a smile even though my heart is going a million miles a second. < You too Bing, now. Are you okay? >

 

I look at those words and well, I got nothing to hide. " No... not really, these dudes at the skating ring were being major douchebag! Said that I was a freak and I'm nothing but a mistake! I get that I'm not human but I still have feelings you *** BLEEP ***! "

 

I feel Evelyn touch my arm as look at me, < 1\. those guys are asshole and wrong on multiple accounts, 2. ' Not human '? you look pretty human to me. >

 

I look at her...she's not for real right? Her brow gets more and more furrowed and I just look at her before I answer " I'm a droid, I'm basically a machine that looks like a human. ". Her eyes are wide and her mouth is open, I go to talk but the text appears before me before I can.

 

< THAT IS AMAZING! YOU ARE AN ABSOLUTE MARVEL!! A MACHINE THAT LOOKS, TALKS AND FEELS LIKE A PERSON?!? BRILLIANT, YOU'RE BRILLIANT!! >

 

My face goes blank before it goes bright teal, she holds my hands as she leans in and has a face full of awe and wonder. I've never really heard ( Read ) those words before, " T-thanks dudette... " I say as she smiles.

 

< Tell me about yourself, and whats that... wheeled piece of wood you have there. >, I look at my skateboard and look at her. She's never heard of a skateboard? Well, I'll tell her everything she needs to know about it. I grin and start talking, and for the first time. No one tells me to stop talking or that what I'm saying isn't important. I have her full attention and that's a first.

 

I think I spend a few hours to just talking to her with Evelyn saying her input and stuff, Dark walks in as tilts his head at us as we look up at him from the beanbags. Evelyn winks at him and gives him a two-finger salute, " Hmmmm, Darling it's time to eat. ". She nods and moves a little before giving him a thumbs-up, he walks over and picks her up princess style and stars to walk away. He gives me a small word of thanks as he moves and Evelyn waves over his shoulder.

 

" BYE DUDETTE! SEE YA LATER! " I yell from my spot as I pull up a screen to play a game. I smile widely with happiness coursing through my body, she's very kind. 

 

* * *

 

I sit in the tree as I listen to my subjects, they all talk of this woman that smells of flowers and gives them food. They crawl around the branch and even myself as I sit and take in the sounds around me, it was peaceful and nice.

 

Here I sit with my squeals, here I'm not questioned, here I am trusted, here... I'm me.

 

As I sit, my tail and ears twitching slightly, as smaller squirrel licks the peanut butter another darts up the tree. They climb up my arm with an apple slice in their mouth, " Hey, where you'd get that? " I ask as I look as they gobble it down before answering. 

 

' _the flower smelling lady is back and she brought food! Gave me a crisp, juicy apple slice when she saw me. Nice, she is, very nice._ ' I look at my subject as I think on this, this woman was more than likely ' Flower ' the woman that had Dark and Will in a frenzy. She can't be that bad, from what I heard from Bing, she was very kind to him. And, no one can be evil if they give food to one of my kin. 

 

I nod and turn to the squirrel, Swift, and asked them where this lady was. Swift said she was near the patio, in that small clearing sitting. I nod and dash off, not before giving the little one back to their mother, and go looking for Flower. 

 

I found her, I found her and...she was nothing like I'd imagine. I was there when she first showed up, she was true power and anger. She didn't say a word but she had everyone on their toes, she was graceful in away. The grace someone would find in a force of nature, like a tornado or a snowstorm.

 

She turned her head and looked at me with a calmness in her eyes, and sat with a poise. Her hair was in a high messy bud, her scars in her eye and neck were very prominent with the light, her shoulders were relaxed. Her eyes were an iridescent purple in the light, the sun making a halo around her as she looked at me before she smiled and took her left hand motioned to the ground next to her.

 

I take a set on the soft grass as I continue to look at her, she does the same with a smile on her face.

 

She wore a simple white dress that fluttered around her shins with a light cream-colored, over-sized cardigan, she sat in a black wheelchair that had wind-chimes on the handles and from what I could see a bright pink pillow. Bunch white socks and light pink slippers with a pair of glassed the same shade of silver as the necklace that shined in the sun.

 

< Hello, I'm Evelyn. What can I call you, your majesty? > the text appeared and my tail raised and fluffed at that. I look at her and saw her brow was raised, not in a condescending way but in a truly curious way. There was no malice or teasing that came with my outfit. No jest, just acceptions.

 

" I am King of the Squirrels, call me King. " I reply as I bow my head at her, she returns the gesture. < Okay, King why have you come to me today? It's not the first time I've been out here and it most defiantly won't be that last with the orders Dr.iplier has me on. >

 

" I'm... just curious about who was giving my subjects food, that good enough? " I look at her as she smiles and shakes her head. We sit in more silence before I look at her again.

 

" How do you do it? " I whisper, she hums and bits an apple piece. < I don't know what you mean. >, I look at her exaggerated.

 

" When you first showed up, you commanded the room, you made yourself the center of attention without saying a damn word! Dark and Will hang around you like bees at a hive, not one of the other egos say a bad thing about you! " I look at her, I've been here the same amount as Wilford has, I'm a ruler but not one listens to me! No one looks at me with respect! Evelyn's been wake for less than a month and she's not treated as an _outsider_ like I am.

 

I looked at my hands for an eternally before I feel a hand on my shoulder, she's looking at me with a frown. I think I've done something and go to turn my head down and look away but, she puts her hand under my chin and lifts my head as she looks me in the eyes.

 

< Why do you turn away in shame? You've done nothing wrong, you asked a simple question. > I open my mouth but close it when I find I have nothing to say, I guess I'm just used to this-to acting this way. I know I'm fairly erratic and when I get spooked I yell ' I'M KING OF THE SQUIRRELS! '. I'm just used to being brushed off to the side because of that. 

 

I hear a light sigh and feel a tap on my forehead, I look at Evelyn in surprise. She has a smile and snaps her fingers.

 

< It's because I'm used to being underestimated- thought lesser than. Of having expectations set for me because of how I act or because of who I am and what gender I am. And because when I first showed up, I had a set objective and a drive. >

 

I nod at that, she's not wrong about that. From what I've heard from Bing and Yan, she was here because of Eric- because he was hurt and he called for her.

 

< And, because I never bowed my head to anyone that I thought didn't deserve- I kept my head high through it all. >

 

She lifts my head once more and shifts my crown, my tail swished as my ears flutter.

 

< I _**NEVER** _let others determine my worth. >

 

Bright purple meets golden brown eyes as she smiled at me as she tilted her head up.

 

< Keep your head high dear, the crown musn't fall. >

 

My eyes widen before I nod with a determined gleam in my eyes. Evelyn holds out an apple slice with a soft smile, I take it as we both just take in the sun. As we watched nature I looked up to look at her and couldn't help but think ' She's so wise '.

 

* * *

 

I walk into the kitchen with tears in my eyes and a heavy heart, another failed attempt with Senpai. I tried to get close to them but I got too nervous to do anything, so I'm going to drown my sadness into some ice cream. ( ~~**and also plot the end of one of my rivals but that another thing**  ~~) I turned and saw Miss Evelyn, I blink but say " Hello... " dully. I'd be surprised but Bing, King, and Eric talked to me about her. She was basically Erics' okaasan.

 

She waved but made text appear < You okay? You look like you wanna drown your sadness into some ice cream. > I look at that with a surprised look " That's actually wanted what I wanted to do, how'd you know? ". Miss Evelyn gives me a look and replies < Honey, I've been alive for along time. I know that face better than anyone, also I think Will just got some ice cream-strawberry I think. > 

 

I nod at that and move to the freezer with my skirt flowing behind me, I grab the whole carton and get two spoons. I move to the table she's at, take off the lid and hand her a spoon. We cheer and dig in, we just eat the ice cream for a solid 10 minutes before she asks < Wanna talk about it? >. 

 

I take a spoonful of ice cream and sight into my hands " Where do I even start?- " and I just talk with Miss Evelyn nodding as she takes spoonfuls of ice cream. 

 

"- and know I don't know what to do!?! " I end my rant with tears in my eyes as I wipe my eyes, she pats my arm. 

 

< I may not be the best with this stuff, but I know one thing is everyone loves a good chocolate chip cookie. I have a recipe that could do the trick. > I look at her with wide eyes and smile as I rush up to get a piece of paper. I give her the paper and pan and eat the ice cream as I watch her write everything down, I hum and think of ways to get rid of that one girl in Senpais class that's getting too close for comfort.

 

< Here we go! Also, remember if you're going to commit a crime- leave no evidence! > 

 

I blink at that but I take the advice anyway, better safe than sorry. " Thanks, Miss Evelyn! This has been really helpful! " We smile at each other as we go back to eating the Ice cream. 

 

" **HONEY BEE! MY STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM STILL THERE RIGHT?** " 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG!! AHHHHHHHHHH, I HAVE NO EXCUSE!


	23. Chapter 23: Long road to recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first step is always the hardest

 

It was hard, ya know? Hard learning to live again. Walking, moving and all the things that I didn't worry about in the mirror,  _ almost  _ made me miss being in it. But one thing made me so happy I was going through all this struggle and pain, made me glad I  _ wasn't  _ in that mirror. 

 

I patted Eric's head that was in my lap as hummed and watched the T.V, it was so strange. It was so colorful and bright and had sound, I smile sadly as I think of Mark. I knew he would have loved this, all of this technology and improvement of the acting he loved so much. I sigh, I'm thankful to be out of that mirror because I have Eric and Damien-Dark and Wilford. I sight at my slight mess up, I know they said I can call them by their old names but It felt  _ strange  _ to call them that when everyone else called them something else.

 

Eric mumbles sleepily and burrows into me more, I laugh quietly at that and pat his head once more before I card my hand through his hair. Yeah, it's hard learning to live again but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have them and they have me, made I'm a little broken but so are they. 

 

I'm their broken girl and they're my broken boys, I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

I see Dr.iplier around the corner and I wave to him, " Ah! just the lady I was looking for- " I smirk and give him finger guns " -it's time for your physical therapy. " he gives me a sympathetic smile. I look down at my legs, they're so weak now and it was such a pain with their shakiness and frailness but I knew I need to work in it. I look up at him and nod but point at Eric, " Don't worry, I already called Google, he's on their way and I asked them to bring a wheelchair. " I give him a thumbs up and pat Eric one more time. 

 

Dr.ipiler sits with me and asks me how I'm feeling today, stander stuff, am I in any pain, where is the pain, and so on. I answer him the best I can without summoning words but sometimes I do to go a bit more in-depth. Dark asked me to use my abilities as little as I can, at least until we get my walking down. He doesn't know how my newfound magic will affect my physical abilities so I have to keep it to a minimum. I only summon words and sometimes make arrows, ya know, small stuff. It's not like I've tried to do anything else with em'.

 

By the time I'm done answering his questions Google is here and rolling a standard black wheelchair that has a pink pillow on it and some little windchimes and key chains hanging off the handles. I wave at him and he turns his bright blue eyes on me and nods slightly. It was amazing how far technology had come, to make beings like Google and Bing. But, it also saddened me to hear how badly they were treated or how they were disregarded and not seen for anything more than a tool. They were people too! They lived and breathed, rested and expressed themselves. Why could no one else see that? 

 

But, I guess there was a pro about my way of thinking. Google was... kind to me, and liked that I truly thought highly of him. He may say that he doesn't and that he's not a human and therefore can't have human emotions, but I know better. I can see it in his bright iridescent eyes, they glow and have emotions. I didn't become a lawyer for nothing.

 

He and Dr.iplier slowly picked me up and put me in my wheelchair, and I ' say ' my thanks before Google picks up Eric and walks away. Eric didn't even flinch, he just moved a bit to make himself a bit comfier. I giggle and I look at the Doctor and see he's also smiling, then he wheels me away.

 

 

* * *

 

 

I trip and fall harshly to the hard wooden floor beneath me with a grunt, I hear Dr.iplier run to me and help me up. This sucked so fucking much. It hurt and it was humiliating, but I knew I had to. I had to not only for me but for them too. 

 

" Hey, that was really good. " he says as he brings me back to the posts slowly, " you made it a good 2 feet away. ". I look at him and sniff, it didn't  _ feel  _ like it. My face must have said it all because he spoke again, "You were asleep for a year and a half, you didn't have a physical body for over  _ 80 years _ \- " I hit him lightly on the art, no need to remind me " ah! what I'm trying to say it, you're making a lot of progress with your circumstances. A lot more than anyone normally would have, okay? "

 

I frown at the floor before nodding and rubbing my eyes as I go and fix my ponytail, I can do this! I look at Dr.ipliers' face and give him a thumbs up and point to the wooden bars, < One more time! > he gives me a firm nod and helps me back to the bars. 

 

The slick wooden bars were cool to the touch, my arms, and shoulders shook from my weight and my nerves. I slowly put my weight on my legs, from my toes to heels and then the legs as a whole. I feel a sting and ache from lack of use, I gasp out shakily and move forward.

 

1

2

3

1

2

3

1

2

3

 

Heel to toe, heel to toe, heel to toe.

 

Deep breaths, one foot in front of the other, take it slow.

 

" Evelyn you can stop now! " 

 

I jolt out of my determined haze and see I've walked more than I've ever had since starting my therapy. I hear Dr.ipliers' steps as he runs to my side and gently but firmly holds my right arm. That's when I realize my legs are shaking every badly-much more than they have in the past. I look into his eyes and I see worry but also pride and joy, " Flower, you just walked 5 feet... 5  _ full  _ feet! ". I let out a gasp out of surprise and as I slump into his waiting arms, I bury my face into his chest and I feel the rough fabric of his scrubs on my face as I tear up.

 

His arms are around me as they hold me in a comforting embrace, my own are limp and shaking as they quiver on the wood floor. I slowly move them off the cool floor and grip the back of Dr.ipliers' coat, the clothing balling up in my fits as I start to cry silently.

 

I'm sore, embarrassed, tired, and  _ so  _ ** fucking  ** sad, but I'm also so so happy! 5 feet, 5 fucking feet! Dr.iplier slowly picks me up and puts me on a bench as he goes to grab my wheelchair a few feet away as he does that, I take deep breaths and look at my hands. Their shaking and sweetly and they kinda ache but...

 

There's a beauty in my pain, a purpose to it that wasn't there before. I remember aching and pulsating with pain in that void. Here, I'm not alone and I have people who want to help me. 

 

I look at the mirror as I'm being wheeled out, I see myself but I also see a flash of yellow buttercups, pink carnations, white roses, and iris. I feel something inside of me harden as I look forward and soften my face of the small scowl I feel. 

 

' I'm going to get you all out of there, I'm going to save you- free you all...a Flores  **_ never  _ ** goes back on her word. ' 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this one done for a couple of days and i just didn't post it, I'm sorry and this chapter kinda sucks. Hope you guys liked this and enjoyed Evelyns' and Doc relationship, word of note. It's Platonic.


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